General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Handguns...exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing.... [View all]beevul
(12,194 posts)"Here, you cannot "own" a car unless you buy it or someone gives it to you and you MUST pay taxes on it when you bring it to Florida regardless of the origin."
Are you required to bring it to florida if you own it?
"All sales require the car to be taxed and/or registered and titled (depending on the type of vehicle), ergo, you must have proof of paying taxes and sometimes insurance in order to transfer the title or obtain a title if registration is required. Depending on where you park the car or boat - some locations also require all vehicles to be registered/insured."
So, say...race cars don't have to be licensed or registered or insured, or say...off road vehicles?
As far as locations which have requirements - those locations I assume are optional - as in you can skip them if you choose.
"I'm not confusing the "ownership". I don't CARE if you own anything. I'm saying if you DRIVE, the person must have a driver's license (and typically be an insured driver)."
Again, I can drive all day long, never touch a public road, and never break a law. Its called private property, and such things as licensing and registration do not apply and are not required for use of a motor vehicle on it.
"There are plenty of parallels for interstate sales and similar things."
I'd like to see some of these, I'm drawing a blank there, myself.
"I realize it would take a decade or more to get everyone under a new set of laws, but they would be similar to existing auto, boat, and registration laws. It would not cost a thing, because the costs would be collected in registration/licensing fees. It would be an additional cost to the gun owner/user/possessor! It would create a safer society."
Heres the point at the heart of this, that you don't seem to get - maybe I'm not being clear here, and if thats the case, I appologize, but...
Similar to existing auto, boat, and registration laws would be that in MOST places in America, one is not required to license or register a motor vehicle or boat, nor be licensed to drive it, UNLESS one intends to use it in public areas.
No drivers license required to drive around on ones own property. I realize that to some city folks that might seem absurd, however, people really and truly do drive vehicles around on their own property all the time, unlicensed, unregistered, and legal.
Unless you're telling me that under your "plan" people could own and use firearms on private property without license or registration legally, ...
Then you are most certainly NOT talking "similar to existing auto, boat, and registration laws", and are in fact talking about a much farther reaching completely different animal.
"This is entirely practical over a period of time."
It would be entirely against federal law. The firearm owners protection act of 1986 makes registration at the federal level unlawful.
Here is the relevant excerpt from 18 USC 926(a):
No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of the enactment of the Firearms Owners Protection Act may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof, nor that any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or dispositions be established.
You realize also, that a prohibited person could not generally be prosecuted for failing to register right?
The Supreme Court has already ruled that a criminal in violation of gun laws CANNOT be prosecuted for failure to register, because doing so would violate the 5th Amendment protection against requiring self-incrimination.
As to the practicality of it, what would be the TOTAL cost of a system used to register 300 million firearms and 80 plus million people, and how prohibitive would that cost be to a person that only owns 1 or 2 guns?
What about to the collector that owns hundreds?
I think there are parts of this that you haven't thought all the way through yet.