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Nothing says "I Love You, Dear" like screaming lower back pain!

Sometimes Wrong but rarely in doubt!

26 October 2011

Long Gun Registry

I read an interesting article by Lorne Gunter in the National Post.  In summation he is floating the idea of getting rid of licensing for gun owners.  As a gun enthusiast I have to say that I disagree with Mr Gunter and those that know me will likely be quite surprised.

Part and parcel of getting a license is going through a day-long course on gun laws and gun safety.   You can also challenge the test and avoid the day-long curse. Successfully passing the test demonstrates a basic familiarity with gun safety.  The license that you are subsequently issued should be a lifetime license.  There needs to be a provision for the courts to remove the license in the event of a licensee being convicted of a crime or no longer having capacity (in the legal sense).  A lifetime license would remove most of the overhead of administering the licensing program.

If guns were used solely for hunting then the gun safety could be rolled into the hunter safety courses as it used to be before the advent of the FAC.  We do need to recognize, though, that a certain portion of gun owners aren't hunters but just shoot targets.



4 comments:

  1. *I* ought to be able to have heavy machine guns without a license, but heaven knows there are some of my neighbors who shouldn't be trusted with anything more dangerous than a steak knife.

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  2. The intent with licensing is that the licensing process should educate the licensee in gun safety. Hence my thought of lifetime licensing.

    Unfortunately governments will always see licensing as an income stream and act accordingly to protect that income stream.

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  3. There's also the issue of control. "You're likely to be politically a _______-ist, therefore no license for you."

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  4. Every power granted to the government is open to abuse by the government, indeed is going to be abused by the government.

    Yet the alternative is anarchy, ask the Somalis and Mexicans how that's working out for them. As much as it grates, I must admit that some vanishingly small amount of government is necessary to:

    Defend from enemies (foreign and domestic)
    Enforce contracts
    Organize for Natural Disasters (pestilential and enviromental)
    Enforce a minimal set of criminal laws and sequester transgressors.

    ReplyDelete

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