Why not gun license & registration?

Why are some folk having seizures when any type of gun laws are proposed? To me, if all states issued license and registration of weapons like they do automobiles, you would significantly reduce the use of guns by the criminal element and by those who are mentally ill/disturbed.

Think about it: if you want to buy a gun, you have to pass a basic safety and use test like you do with drivers education. This would cut down on home accidents, criminal obtainment and people with mental problems from getting said weapons. Then when you actually buy the gun, it's registered like a car...which means if you sell your gun and the buyer subsequently uses it or passes it on to a criminal who uses it, the cops have a better paper trail, and YOU are off the hook of suspicion....much like the difference of you lending or selling your car to someone and they have a horrific accident.

I have NO problem with law abiding citizens owning fire arms for home protection or hunting or target practice. I just want a better system of lowering the ability of the criminal element to easily obtain them.

 

A common reason is because some think that registration is the first step to confiscation supported by the paranoia that Obama wants to take away all firearms so he can become the next Pol Pot or Hitler.

 

Because when it doesn't produce results then people will demand stricter laws and when those don't work they will push for even more so it's better to stop them early. Gun violence is already going down anyways and that proves it has nothing to do with guns.

 

So-------------how many criminals and killers are you going to get to license and register their guns? In other word your suggestion is just as bad and other gun grabber "solutions".

 

This makes sense.

 

How is registration gun grabbing? A license can be used to certify that a gun owner is proficient in the safe handling and use of the firearm. Hundreds of people die each year in America from accidental firearm discharge. Licensing may reduce these accidents and I argue would reduce these accidents. Another benefit of registration would be if one becomes or were later discovered to be mentally ill, it could be quickly determined if they were a gun owner and Law enforcement could confiscate the firearms until said individuals mental state was determined as not being a threat to self or others.

 

Beyond scary. So tell us what your definition of mentally ill is? If someone is a little depressed are you going to send the brown shirts to go confiscate their property?

 

I would leave such assessments to trained mental health professionals who act by a strict guileline when determining if one is or is not competent to be in possession of a firearm. I would assume such an assessment would be based upon if the person in question is a threat to themself or another.

 

please explain how this will prevent criminals and mentally ill from obtaining guns... because, a drivers license doesn't stop stolen cars or people without a license from driving... so who would requiring a license for the law-abiding stop the criminals?

most gun crimes are done by felons, who are already not permitted to have a gun... yet they get them and continue to use them... how would a license have prevented that?

once again, the reason why people are against these laws, isn't because they are worried the government will come take their weapons, its because they don't actually solve the problem... thats why people are against them... all it does it make it cost more for those who follows laws, and those who do not, have no additional cost...

if this actually solved the problem, you wouldn't see anyone fighting against it... they would clearly recognize we'd go from 100% gun crimes to 0% gun crimes and they would all rejoice and say what a miracle... however when we go from 100% gun crimes to 99% gun crimes, and all you did was make it cost more for everyone who already follows the law... its just a waste of money and time... we don't want a 1% solution, we want the one that solved 99% of it... unfortunately, there is only one solution for that, and you're right, nobody wants to give up their guns so there are no more left...

 

OP, do you think that this would be a good idea regarding our First Amendment rights as well? Should journalists writers (perhaps including internet posters) and publlishers be licensed? Should their writings be registered?

Timothy McVeigh was inspired by a book called The Turner Diaries, and Nidal Malik Hasan (Ft. Hood shooter) was inspired by the Koran. Had the publishers of these works been licensed, the license could have been revoked and the writings thus quashed. Imagine the number of lives that might have been saved. Such a common-sense approach would not impact responsible writers and readers, just those who cross the line to incite violence. How about it?

 

gun manufacturers would get less business and the nra wouldn't like that

 

so what questions would you ask someone to determine if they are sane or not... and who would pay for this?

and what happens, when someone passes the questions you ask today... and a year later, they go bananas... should we require a mental test annually? a drivers license can last for almost 10 years in some states... so every 10 years?

how do you plan to stop them when 99% of people would pass the test, or else we would have massive numbers of people we would have to institutionalize because if they can't pass a mental test, that means we should lock them up in institutes because clearly they are too crazy right?

will politicians get to decide what the questions are? will they change with every election?

mental health professionals can't decide on mental health... they are all split and divided on so many things... you go to one mental health expert, and he'll give you different advice or treatments than another... thats the problem with mental health... its a lot of subjective decisions in a society that wants to be objective... and mental health, just doesn't work that way... one guy might commit you, the other might not... how can we have "guidelines" if we already do for so many mental illnesses, and these are the results we get today with guidelines...

P.S. should everyone who experiences a life event be subject to retest? someone gets fired, we better retest them, someone dies close to them, we better retest them, someone gets bullied every day, we better retest them... how often to guarantee they will remain stable?

 

all you're doing is looking for excuses not to control gun sales

 

Hahahahahzhzhzbzhzhahahahahahahahahahahahahgagagah

You don't need insurance it an license to buy a car you can buy any car you want even those that eclipse the police in speed. You need the registration to drive on public roads. Think before you submit

 

only if they are tea party members, registered republicans, or independents that speak out against corrupt administrations in federal or local government. Also any of those who vocally support the RKBA and also again members of the NRA. Thats just the tip of the iceberg.

then they will eventually pass a law saying who owns what and where is public domain and become a target for both government and thieves.

After that there will be random inspections for "safety". insurance rate adjustments and medical coverage increased costs. ...... yada yada yada. Good luck trying to keep a job because you will be seen as a liability risk.

Gun owners are not stupid and wont be fooled. Anti gunners never ever stop.

 

That was done in NYC in 1967. It was initially a free registration system. It now costs

8.The application fee is $140.00. The fingerprint fee is $89.75. That also includes a $15.50 fee per long gun.

 

all you're doing is denying reality and looking for a way to control guns that doesn't impact the problem society has...

I asked simple and direct questions, feel free to answer them and prove me wrong...

but don't just reject reality, and refuse to provide the details, and then call someone else wrong...

I'm all for stopping the problem, the problem is, I don't see any law aside from taking guns away, that will actually solve this problem with a law... because the solutions aren't addressing the real problems... they are addressing those who already follow laws... we need to address the people who do not... and no laws we pass, will address them PRIOR to the event, only after as a punishment...

so please, look at the problem through the correct pair of glasses... and see it for what it is... its not a problem of too few laws, its a problem of too few consequences...

do you dispute, most gun crimes, are done by felons, who legally can't have guns anyhow?

if you agree, then shouldn't we agree, those people need to be locked up longer? so they aren't free to do what it is they do?

do you dispute, most gun crimes, are done by gang members, and most of the crimes are related to drugs?

if you agree then shouldn't we agree to tackle gangs and round them up and put them away, or in the case of half of them being illegal immigrants, we kick them out and make sure they never return? and maybe we should invest more in drug treatment so people don't buy drugs fueling the criminals desire to shoot for control?

so basically don't you agree, those who are committing 99% of the murders in society, should be locked up longer already, and if we tackle their source of income they wouldn't have any desire to control their drug areas funding their desire for violence??? shouldn't THAT be the solutions... punish the criminals, not the law-abiding people?

or do you dispute existing criminals are the ones doing almost 99% of the homicides? and less than 1% are from mental illness? do you reject proven facts?

 

Someone WITH a gun but WITHOUT a license can then be prosecuted. A criminal, of course, won't have a license but, even if he commits no other crime, has committed the crime of illegal possession & can be jailed. Al Capone was a bootlegger, mob boss, murderer, and lots of other things, but he wound up in the slammer for income tax evasion. Jail is jail. A law abiding citizen, on the other hand, could have a licensed firearm with no problem.

Of course, the paranoia types will see this as a plot. Look at it this way. If I break the law and lose my license to drive but drive anyway, I can be charged. If I'm what I am, a boring old guy who obeys the laws on driving, and a cop pulls me over because, for example, they are looking for a fugitive, and he asks for my license, I show it and, as long as I have broken no laws, away I drive with no problems.

 

How about licenses to have sex and have children?

I think some people need to think more carefully on the difference between a right and a privilege.
When the means of defending one's rights gets turned into a mere privilege, all the other rights are basically just turned into privileges as well.

In a FREE country, people have rights until they do something wrong that severely hurts someone else, and those rights are taken away.
If you start taking away rights, it becomes a slippery slope, and soon people will not have any real rights at all.

 

There are upwards of a half BILLION guns currently at large in our society. How do you propose that the EXISTING guns are registered, and their owners licensed?

 

Exactly right. If we were to treat guns like cars, it would be an overnight massive expansion of gun rights.
https://reason.com/archives/1999/11/01/taking-it-to-the-streets

 

This gets at the core issue. There is only one way to effectively prevent violent people from doing violent things, and that is to strip them of their liberty and lock them up BEFORE they hurt anyone. That we cannot do that means that the occasional act of violence, sometime very destructive violence, by crazy psychos is the price we must pay for our liberty.

 

I would leave such assessments to trained mental health professionals who act by a strict guileline when determining if one is or is not competent to be in possession of a firearm.

Probably taxes as many of the mentally ill may be too poor to pay themselves or already be on government insurance.

It would show that laws are not perfect and cannot preempt every tragedy.

That should be up to mental health professionals to decide. I think to get a gun license a background mental health check should be done. After one is given a license then I would be against routine reevaluations of those who have no previous history of mental health issues.

How you have come to that conclusion based upon anything I have said is a mystery to me. Licensing will not stop all violence but I argue that it would stop some.

I hope not.

I hope not, not based on politics anyway. Change can happen given new discoveries in the field of biology and psychiatry.

As with any area of science that sets a government policy, you pick the perceived best in the field to set qualitative parameters. It does not mean that the parameters will be universally agreed upon but to avoid the spiral of infinite regression one must settle for better or worse upon an axiom.

There is a difference between the situational depression that all otherwise normal people will get and major depressive disorder. Just because someone is depressed does not mean that they are a threat to themself or others. But if one starts to publicly or privately talk about committing suicide of homocide then this would be a case once reported to authorities to take preemptive action in the defense of life.

 

Of course. People protesting "common sense" laws/regulations, are conditioned to have that knee-jerk response... when in reality, it makes tremendous sense to limit 'easy' assess of sale/transfer of firearms.

And as the President suggested (a few days ago) as well as others over the years... comprehensive background checks and registration of firearms, is a good/smart thing to do. I'm sure 'some' guys convicted of violent crimes (to include domestic abuse) probably don't want this... but the overall well being of America's men, women and children hang in the balance.

So what, if it's an extra few days or procedural hurdle, to make sure we aren't (in effect) doing the same as selling cheaper gasoline and matches to an arsonist? Stop whining (extremists), and let this nation do what's right.

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Those people need to grow up. Their paranoia isn't making this society any safer. In fact, they are really experiencing diminishing returns, where it comes to that.

 

This explains why many gun nuts don't even like background checks even though they're harmless.