IMO that is ridiculous. Im all for people being able to own weapons. But IMO they should have to be licensed and registered.
USA has some messed up gun laws, It varies too much from state to state.
Also, just curious, do these people still need a license to buy Ammo? Or can anyone who has a gun go buy some? I would imagine they are not gonna check your record to buy ammo.
You might think its ridiculous but I'll never live in a state that requires registration of firearms. Registration is for 1 thing and 1 thing only, governmental control. If the government knows who has how many guns and where you them, then you have instances like Katrina where law abiding citizens are raided by the BATFE for no other purpose than to put the Feds at ease. I'm sure the 89 year old woman in New Orleans with a .38 special was a HUGE threat the government and that's why they broke her arm.
No violent criminal history and mental stability is all that should be required for the purchase of a firearm. My state doesn't have a clue what guns I have or how many and I'm glad of that. If a Hurricane comes through my area I know the ATF won't be at my door, holding me and my family at rifle point demanding my legally purchase firearms.
Public 'records' is point 2. You, my neighbors, no one has a 'right' to know I have guns. Public access databases of such information, which usually follows registration states, does nothing more than tell the violent criminals where to go to get free guns to use illegally.
I like my privacy in all aspects, who I sleep with, what I smoke, who I smoke with, and what guns I own are not the business of the federal or state governments.
Oh ya ballistics 'finger printing' doesn't work. First of all, the database would be so huge that there's no singular computer large enough to handle all the data on ballistics. The estimate is in the million to billions of terabytes, and a single search is estimated to take up to 5 years. Second I change the ballistics of my guns every single time I shoot them, it's called cleaning. So unless they outlaw gun cleaning, then a ballistics database is waste of time. (I tested this with the local PD, I shot two bullets with a cleaning between each, the 'report' showed they had a 15% chance of being from the same gun (not acceptable in court), yet they were.
Micro-stamping... Talk about epic fail. Micro stamping, like what they passed in California also doesn't work. First it takes me 3 minutes to change firing pins in my difficult to disassemble guns. Second if I wanted to illegally shoot someone with a 'micro-stamped' firing pin I'd simply go to the range and grab 3 - 5 rounds of the same caliber from some innocent schmo. Third after roughly 500 rounds fired the firing pin is dulled so much that the micro-stamp ceases to work, forceful impacts have a funny way of doing that to a piece of steel. Finally, if I were too anal retentive to trust just firing the gun to remove the micro-stamp, I'd shave the firing pin 3 mils. The (as legislated) micro-stamp is only 2 mils deep, all of my guns will fire reliably with a firing pin dropped up to 10 mils.
So all in all, registration is nothing more than another governmental fee and a way to unjustly rule the people. Micro-stamping is worthless and just makes guns more expensive for the legal buyer. So I don't see how any of it stops crime.
Once again I state, I'm astonished at how many pot growers are in favor of MORE unjust government control.
-RT76