Gun Registration: Pro or Con?

Published on August 20, 2004 By Gideon MacLeish In Politics

I have blogged here long enough that I am certain my views on gun control are well known.

I do have some questions, however, over the idea of gun registration. I know the arguments of the NRA well, and respect the arguments, but wanted to open this one up for discussion, as, frankly, I see some potential positives to the idea of gun registration.

The chief positive I see is the idea of having a "footprint" To trace back if the gun is involved in a violent crime. If the owner has nothing to hide, at least he may be able to help establish a trail that the police can trace back, rather than leaving them clueless due to the fact that they can't ballistics match a bullet from a crime scene.

The slippery slope argument is the one I lean towards on the con side, but I would like to hear your positions on the subject.

signing off,

Gideon MacLeish

Comments

Deference

on Aug 20, 2004

We see what happened to the British after registration, the government then rounded up everyone's weapons and confiscated them. We already nearly have registration with the sheet any potential gun owner must fill out when buying a gun. I think that is just enough - for both sides.

SSG Geezer

on Aug 20, 2004

Australia too!
It is also a tenet of the communist party that gun registration comews before confiscation.
The North Vietnamese just used the Tet offensive to rid themselves of armed revolutionaries who
might try to force the government to follow up on their promises.
China- The night of plastic flowers, The true revolutionary gets dead quick. By his own side.

Deference

on Aug 20, 2004

Great info SSG!

cwarsh

on Aug 20, 2004

I don't see a point to gun registration. Contrary to what TV police dramas would have you believe, getting a balistics match is pretty rare, especially when the initial sample is one of the first shots through the gun. First of all getting a balistics sample requires that the police find the bullet intact, and the bullet is often broken- you can even buy bullets that completely break down after impact. Second of all the "fingerprint" of a barrel on a gun is always changing, and won't even be close to the same between a shot fired in the factory before selling the gun and a shot fired hundreds or perhaps thousands of shots later.

Gideon, I'm extremely surprised that a fellow libertarian is using the "if he has nothing to hide" excuse. We both know that regardless of the truth, if word were to get out that a certain person's gun was involved in a crime, his life could be changed dramaitcally. People might start to not trust him, he could lose his job, etc. People are irrational.

Besides all of this, there is the most major flaw- ok, so people who are obeying the law could be forced to register their weapons. What makes you think that criminals would go through the same paces? Any criminal worth his salt is going to buy his gun without registering, and your fancy registration program that does nothing to prevent gun murders to begin with now doesn't help in catching any murderers either.

Gideon MacLeish

on Aug 20, 2004

Gideon, I'm extremely surprised that a fellow libertarian is using the "if he has nothing to hide" excuse. We both know that regardless of the truth, if word were to get out that a certain person's gun was involved in a crime, his life could be changed dramaitcally. People might start to not trust him, he could lose his job, etc. People are irrational.

This was clearly presented as a forum to invite people's views. The phrasing was selected in such a way as to elicit thoughtful comments, which I did. I thank you all for responding.

I would like to hear from the pro gun registration position, though, just to have the information "out there". If you are reading, and are pro registration, please weigh in.

cactoblasta

on Aug 20, 2004

The benefits of gun registration aren't going to be seen for decades. It's not a short-term solution or proposal. Certainly criminals will still be able to buy unregistered weapons. But the fact of the matter is that if a serious attempt is made to track every weapon from the factory to the buyer in the shop, then eventually the only guns on the streets will be registered to someone. I could be wrong here, but I don't think many crackheads keep their guns in good condition. Will that same gun still be usable in 20 years? Slowly the current completely untracked weaponry will leave the streets.

Of course, a natural counterargument to this concerns the theft of registered weapons. And of course this will continue to be an issue. But at least with registered weapons the police will know what's out there, even if they can't be too sure who exactly has it.

Gideon MacLeish

on Aug 20, 2004

Thanks very much for eloquently representing the "pro" side, cacto.

Anyone else on the pro side want to take this one on? Of course, please weigh in whichever side you're on...I just would like this discussion to be somewhat balanced.

cwarsh

on Aug 21, 2004

"The benefits of gun registration aren't going to be seen for decades. It's not a short-term solution or proposal. Certainly criminals will still be able to buy unregistered weapons. But the fact of the matter is that if a serious attempt is made to track every weapon from the factory to the buyer in the shop, then eventually the only guns on the streets will be registered to someone. I could be wrong here, but I don't think many crackheads keep their guns in good condition. Will that same gun still be usable in 20 years? Slowly the current completely untracked weaponry will leave the streets."

What about smuggtling of unregistered guns from other coutries, and the secret production of guns? Then you have another problem... currently guns are widely sold, so all the companies that make them have to abide by laws, can be held accountable if something is seriously wrong with their product, and some are even publically traded on an exchange. If you have forced registration, you're empowering criminal syndicates in the same way that alcohol prohition empowered the mafia and drug prohibition has impowered drug cartels and street gangs.

Gideon MacLeish

on Aug 21, 2004

Very nice rebuttal, cwarsh. Incidentally, thanks for the earlier information on ballistics; it does refute a lot of the assertions of the gun control lobby.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!