Just got an alarmist email from a right-wing associate yelling about how the sky is falling because of SB2099 and HR45.
SB 2099 - FALSE
http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/taxreturns.asp
It's a bill from 2000, for chrissakes.
Seriously, how much longer before we all take some responsibility as educated and rational adults to do our own homework and examine sources in order to determine their validity and truthfulness before going on our merry way and helping to perpetuate lies and misleading information? Doesn't anyone care if what they read is true or not? What, if it fits your belief system it must be true and is ok to send to others?
HR-45 TRUE
http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/blairholt.asp
What I don't understand is why anyone has a problem with a gun registration requirement as it would be applied in HR-45. The actual bill is worth the read to understand the facts.
It applies only to a certain class of qualifying firearms (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-45&version=ih&nid=t0:ih:72).
The term 'qualifying firearm'--
'(A) means--
'(i) any handgun; or
'(ii) any semiautomatic firearm that can accept any detachable ammunition feeding device; and
'(B) does not include any antique.'.
So what's so wrong? I had to take a hunter safety course as a kid before I got a hunting license and voluntarily took it again as an adult. When guns are involved, it's worth having some knowledge about the rules and regulations, as well as guidelines for safety. I thought it was reasonable considering firearms are involved. I would have gladly had my picture taken and given them a thumb print. If you think you walk around in this world anonymously today, you really don't understand reality.
So why is the idea of registering the fact that you own a handgun or semi-automatic firearm such a big deal?
You can't get a driver's license without passing a test. You have to pay to renew it every 5 years and I am one of those people that favors testing the elderly and revoking their licenses if they present a safety hazard. If there's a time in your life when you're too young to drive, there could come a time in your life when you're too old, too.
You have to register your car when you buy it so that "the state" knows who owns it. You have to pay that registration fee every year.
Some states require you to register ownership of your quad, your snowmobile, and your boat. I would imagine fewer people would get killed every year if every state required "operator licenses" for these, too, that included a safety course akin to driver's ed. I'd support that. You shouldn't be allowed on the water or in the woods with these vehicles without some amount of training as there's too much opportunity for you to hurt yourself and others. Why do you think people have to pass a driver's test or a hunter safety course? Because you might injure yourself and, more importantly, others.
So what's the problem with registering something like a handgun or semi-automatic? Don't those items have more capacity to be used to kill someone better than anything else generally available to us citizens? Why is the idea of registered gun ownership so distasteful? Why shouldn't gun owners (like me) be held accountable for the proper storage and safe-keeping of those guns? Shouldn't we be held accountable to report a lost or stolen gun the way we are if our car is stolen?
Yeah, yeah, I know. This some sinister plot by Big Government to take away all our guns so we can't form militias to resist the next tyrannical leader who comes along. Please. In case you don't have a calendar, this isn't the 18th century. You're out-gunned. Even the world's shittiest military has you out-gunned. If you think the idea that your gun collection is what keeps you safe, you're......well, mistaken. You won't be able to resist government forces from your bedroom windows no matter how well armed you are and no matter how well you can "deploy the family."
And if you think the likelihood that you as a homeowner will be broken into or otherwise criminalized goes up because you have to register - not surrender, register - your piece is an argument I don't get either. What, the thing that keeps you safe is the possibility that you might be packing? Again, please. This ain't West Side Story, and the Jets and Sharks have you out-gunned, too.
Everyone has you out-gunned because there is too little accountability and responsibility on the part of gun manufacturers, distributors and owners. What do you think would happen to gun crimes if every single gun from cradle to grave was registered to someone? Do you think they'd end up sold on the streets, in pawn shops, or at gun shows to anyone and everyone? Not likely.
If you bought a 357 Mag or semi-automatic weapon, had to register it, you couldn't then get away with selling it and then claiming it was lost or stolen. You'd be responsible for that weapon and for at least reporting that it was lost or stolen.
It reminds me of the movie Tombstone, I think it was. "No one is saying you can't own a gun. No one is saying you can't wear a gun. You just can't wear your gun in town."
Enjoy that NRA Kool-Aid
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