The view that Blade, pgg, and possibly yourself (?) hold is that there should be no regulation or control whatsoever of firearms.
That's not quite an accurate representation of my position.
I favor background checks for all purchases. I don't have a strong opinion on legal person-to-person sales, because so few of those guns end up used in crimes (0.7% per the DOJ), but I don't object to those laws that require such sales to take place at a licensed dealer to facilitate background checks.
I favor prohibiting persons with violent felony convictions and mental illness. Though to be honest I don't have a good solution to how significant mental illness can be consistently caught during a background check without all sorts of privacy issues. Unfortunately I think this may be an unsolvable problem - and a risk we have to accept in exchange for our 2nd Amendment protections.
What I don't favor is more gun control than we have now. With the exception of the 1994-2004 period when the federal assault weapon ban was in effect, we presently have the most restrictive laws in the entire 200+ year history of our nation. Gun control laws have NEVER reduced violent crime, and there's no reason to think they ever will. I'm gratified to see some of that being incrementally rolled back.
yappy said:
I guess I'm not for no regulation - just that we have enough and I don't like the idea of having more. For example- my understanding is that civilians cannot own fully automatic weapons or weapons such as a 30mm grenade launcher. I may be mistaken because I have never sought out those types of weapons. But if it were true that those were not allowed for the average civilian I'm okay with that.
Civilians can own fully automatic weapons in most states. 40 mm grenade launchers too.
The short version:
The 1934 National Firearms Act regulated several broad groups of firearms and accessories, including
- short barreled rifles (weapons with a stock meant to held to the shoulder with barrels under 16")
- short barreled shotguns (under 18")
- select-fire weapons (ie, full auto or machine guns)
- suppressors (any device intended to reduce the sound of a firearm)
- destructive devices (certain explosive devices, and guns with greater than .5" bore, except shotguns)
- another group of oddball weapons that I won't go into in much detail, the "any other weapons" or AOWs
Interestingly, the only reason short-barreled guns are on that list is because the original draft of the NFA also included handguns, and the authors forsaw people cutting down rifles to get around the handgun ban they really wanted. Handguns were removed from the law before it was passed, but short barreled rifles and shotguns stayed in.
To legally acquire any of these weapons, you must first live in a state that does not specifically prohibit them. You need to pay a $200 tax (the stamp) to the ATF and undergo a background check. These days, this background check amounts to a rough 6-8 month waiting period. You need to get the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of your locale to approve and sign off your application. (If you have money to burn and a lawyer you can form a Trust to own these weapons, and thereby skip the CLEO signature.)
If you're patient and not poor, you can generally get whatever you want.
So I ask the people who wonder why I hold such "extreme" views as to oppose essentially any and all new gun control measures:
You want another example of why gun control is idiotic, capricious, and punitive only to law abiding people?
For
over fifty years, private ownership of machine guns had a nearly spotless record. There was exactly ONE crime committed with a lawfully registered machine gun between 1934 and 1986 - a police officer murdered someone in 1934. As of 1986 there were roughly 200,000 lawfully registered machine guns in the United States.
And what was the gun control lobby's response to this? Hysteria and the Hughes Amendment in 1986 (signed by Reagan of all people ... reportedly because he assumed it couldn't stand up to judicial challenge). This closed the machine gun registry, and since then no civilian has been able to register a NEW select fire gun.
Transfers of existing guns first registered before 1986 is still legal, but the result of a fixed supply and increasing demand has led to extremely high prices. Today, a piece of aluminum worth maybe $60 (a simple AR lower receiver) will sell for $20,000+ if it has a pre-1986 transferable serial number on it.
Since 1986, privately owned machine guns STILL have a nearly spotless record. The first person to use one in a crime since that police officer in 1934? Another police officer, who killed an informant in 1988 with a .380 MAC-11.
Hardly the scary picture of AK47s and M16s and blood on the streets, is it?
So, let's review.
1934 NFA passed to impose $200 tax ($3200 in today's dollars) on machine guns, to prevent poor people from owning them, without inconveniencing rich people too much. (Back in those days, they didn't bother to give lip service to "protecting the children" or any crap like that. It was just to keep poor people, especially doubly undesirable poor minorities, from exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.)
50+ years pass, essentially without incident.
Gun control advocates suddenly freak out and with tears in their frightened eyes, get the Hughes Amendment passed in 1986, closing the registry.
Another 25+ years pass, essentially without incident.
Throughout this time, criminals have had absolutely no difficulty acquiring illegal full auto guns, or modifying guns to be fully automatic.
End result: law abiding citizens, with 50 years of documented collective good behavior and 200,000+ registered machine guns in circulation, were subjected to arbitrary and pointless new regulations and restrictions that more or less
restricted ownership to rich people starting in 1986.
That's right, the spirit of the 1934 NFA (keep the scary guns away from dirty poor people) was renewed by "enlightened" gun control advocates in 1986.
Stop being so afraid of guns.
Stop trying to influence criminals' behavior by infringing the rights of all citizens.
And for the love of god, recognize gun control for the racist and classist abuse that it has always been.
)
