Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
As a well armed citizen myself, I am for a well regulated framework for firearm ownership. Like education and training as a pre-requisite for firearm ownership (regardless whether you obtain it from an FFL or a private party). Annual certifications that you still own the firearm. Penalties for losing or having it stolen.
I appreciate all of those points. And I favor required education prior to gun ownership, too. That said, there are two extremes here:
(a) A complete free-for-all where there are zero background checks, and buying a weapon is as easy as buying a stick of gum.
(b) Total regulation by the government, including who is allowed to own a gun (by name), the size of gun allowed, the caliber of gun allowed, the round count of the magazine allowed, the number of guns allowed, etc.
It's my feeling that MOST people, gun owners and non-gun owners, probably feel that neither extreme is appropriate, and the "best" balance is somewhere in the middle. To be sure, where, exactly, that line is drawn is what generates the discussion and disagreement.
I'm personally of the opinion that if you give an inch, they take a mile. Give the federal government much of a foot in the door, and they may not do much with it today. And maybe not tomorrow. But over time, they begin to add more bureaucracy and more rules until the result looks nothing like how it started. This clearly doesn't pertain only to gun rights. It pertains to pretty much every facet of federal government. And I'll quit right there so I don't cross a certain line regarding the BITOG terms of service...
I think there are very reasonable and justifiable areas where it's appropriate to have national oversight, such as the current background check system, etc. I'm not personally in favor of a national database of gun ownership -- that would essentially be a list of legal gun owners, and wouldn't give the government any actionable data. I'm sure it'd have a number of nefarious uses, though. There are already jurisdictions that limit magazine size and limit the types of firearms its citizens can purchase (Massachusetts, California, etc). A co-worker of mine says that her dad (in Maryland) has been trying to get a concealed carry permit for years, but they're extremely difficult to acquire in Maryland because you have to have a "valid need" to apply for one. In essence, the decision on whether you carry a gun lies not with you, but with the government.
http://www.abc2news.com/homepage-showcase/conceal-and-carry-permits-difficult-to-obtain-in-maryland
Those types of unfortunate regulations are the product of government involvement. My fear is that federal regulations will begin to move in this direction if we're not careful.
