gun registration

I am against the gov't starting a gun registration system. Tracking what guns are where amoungst the law abiding has lead to bad outcomes in history when the tracking and registration turns to restriction and confiscation.

But another idea I am mulling over I haven't necessarily rejected out of hand. Gun owner registration. Once you are a registered shottist, you can own any firearm, and as many as you desire. You can even choose to get the registry on your 21st birthday and then never ever get a weapon. In fact, that should be encouraged. Regulate the actor, not the object. If we got gun banners to think about the actor, the gunman, the criminal and the crime, and not the means to the crime, THAT would be something. [And when there, maybe we can apply to the EVIL SUV. You never hear, "careless driver plows over pedestrian" anymore, its "SUV plows over pedestrian", unless it is a regular car, then they still might say 'careless driver' . If a pedstrian is hit by a hybrid car the headline reads "Oil exec damages hybrid car with elbow in attempt to increase global warming and his profits."]


To get the license you take a shooting course, get a provincial license, you practice and pass a competency test on gun handling, marksmanship, and shoot/no-shoot scenarios. Once passed you get the full license. You can borrow a licensed shooters firearm for practice too. That sort of thing.

This all leads to "why?" Why register ANYTHING to do with shooting? Well, maybe to placate the gun grabbers that insist we meet them on the middle ground (I think we are way past middle and deep into their territory already, but...) Once a registry is in place maybe they'll shut up for once. And maybe playful monkeys will fly out of my butt in order to charm rich, generous super-models into liking me.

No, a better thing such a registry would accomplish would be a convenience for the gun owners. No waiting period would be necessary, the NICS check would be easy to check against your license number once cross checked with a photo ID. Commit a felony of get sent to the nuthouse and your number get's flagged.

And registration would also assume that you can carry concealed, if you desire, making the US a Shall-Issue nation. You passed the test already. Why not?

The more I think about it, the more I think of ways this new system could/would be abused by anti-gun types in the future. The license fee could get inflated into the thousands of dollars, the class and test to pass could take 8 years and cost as much as a college tuition. And we don't make a Journalist pass a test to publish something, or make a preacher get a license to conduct a roadside sermon, or charge you fees before you get the full protection against warrantless searches. Naw, the current system is still a little constrained, and it is a little wonky, but no NEW regulatory system can be tacked on to make it better. Better to just peel off the current layers of onion rind of gov't regulation as we go, see if we can't get to a REAL happy medium.