Reply #1: but we gotta protect those firearms owners!

[iverglas]

Poor persecuted pets that we all know they are. Why, the very legislation says so:

Since 1995, more than 3,300 felons and people convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors have regained their gun rights in Washington state, where Zettergren got his gun rights restored, according to the analysis of data provided by the state police and the court system.

Of that number, more than 400 — about 13 percent — have subsequently committed new crimes, the analysis found. More than 200 committed felonies, including murder, assault in the first and second degrees, child rape and drive-by shooting.

... Even the National Rifle Association backed the effort. But by the late 1970s, a more hard-line faction, committed to an expansive view of the Second Amendment, had taken control of the group. A crowning achievement was the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986, which significantly loosened federal gun laws.

I wonder whether anybody even gives a first thought these days to protecting the public ...