Gun Registration and Licensing

1
Gun Registration and Licensing

• by Jeremy D. Blanks, Ph.D.
• Click your mouse or use Page Down to advance
  each stage of this presentation

2
Current Proposals by Gun Control Supporters and
Politicians

• Develop universal registration and licensing
  schemes for all law-abiding citizens
• Establish government agencies responsible for
  implementation
• Move toward a long term position of a needs
  based licensing system
• Ban various classes of firearms through
  registration
• And the so called treat guns like cars approach

3
Effects of Registration and Licensing Schemes

• Implementation of various taxes and fees upon
  law-abiding citizens that wish to own a firearm
  for self-defense and/or sporting purposes
• Estimated initial costs of over 10 billion
  taxpayer dollars to establish and support
  government agencies undertaking gun registration
• Loss of individual rights to own a firearm under
  the needs based system
• Confiscation of various classes of firearms after
  registration
• Deter law-abiding citizens from owning firearms
  via taxes, harassment, and bureaucracy

4
Effects of Registration and Licensing Schemes
Continued

• Discourage law-abiding citizens from being
  responsible for their own self-defense and that
  of their families against violent murderers and
  rapists
• No tangible anti-crime benefit
• Increase in crimes such as home invasion, rape,
  assault, murder, and other violent crime
  frequently prevented today by law abiding
  citizens with a gun (over 2 million such crimes
  every year)

5
The New York Example

• In 1967, New York City passed an ordinance
  requiring a permit to own a rifle or shotgun -
  each to be registered
• Concerns over future use of such registration
  lists to confiscate firearms dismissed as
  paranoia
• In 1991, New York City passed a ban on the
  private possession of various semi-automatic
  rifles and shotguns
• New Yorks honest citizens, who had been
  licensed, were told that any licensed firearms
  that were covered under the ban had to be
  surrendered, rendered inoperable, or taken out of
  the city
• People with licenses were threatened with spot
  checks

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Countries Which Have Employed Gun Registration
Schemes and the Results

• Great Britain - Registrations led to bans and
  confiscation
• Australia - Registrations led to bans and
  confiscation
• Canada - Registrations led to selective bans and
  confiscation
• Other countries that have implemented
  registration schemes that resulted in
  confiscation include Ireland, Greece, Jamaica,
  Russia, Cuba, Bermuda, China, and Germany

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Specifics on Registration and Licensing in Great
Britain

• The British Firearms Act of 1920 required
  citizens to provide a good reason for receiving
  a firearm permit
• In 1936, a secure storage requirement was added
  to the permit process
• These laws were initially enforced moderately
• Over time, such laws were applied with greater
  severity to remove essentially all firearm
  ownership rights
• Currently, all handguns, semi-automatic rifles
  and shotguns, and pump-action shotguns are banned
• The crime levels in Great Britain now exceed that
  of the U.S. and have been going up consistently
  since their gun bans of the early 1990s
• Self-defense against a violent criminal is now
  viewed as a high crime in England

8
Will Criminals Register their Guns or Obtain a
License?

• The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that
  criminals are not required to register their
  illegal firearm in Haynes v. U.S. (309 U.S. 85
  (1968))
• The ruling states that registration requirements
  would be a violation of a criminals 5th Amendment
  rights
• Besides the formal ruling by the Supreme Court,
  it is obvious that criminals and those that
  illegally obtain firearms today will not suddenly
  become law-abiding and register their firearms or
  obtain a license in the future

9
Should We Treat Guns Like Cars?

• Currently, cars maintained on private property
  are not subject to any registration or licensing
  requirements in almost all areas of the U.S.
• High powered sports cars are not banned even
  though they can well exceed speed limits
• Background checks for previous drunk driving
  convictions, vehicular homicide or even the
  possession of a drivers license are not performed
  on car purchases
• No waiting periods are required for car purchases
• There are no storage laws even though cars are
  frequently stolen and used in crime and violence

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Guns Like Cars?

• Cheap and inexpensive cars are not banned
• Drivers licenses are rarely revoked even after
  multiple serious offenses, such as drunk driving,
  excessive speeding, and multiple accidents
• Cars are far more dangerous than firearms with
  cars responsible for 32 auto deaths per 100,000
  cars and firearms involved in only 16 per 100,000
• Car deaths are mostly accidents, whereas 95 of
  all gun related deaths are intentional and the
  result of crime
• Driving a car is NOT a Constitutionally protected
  right, but rather a privilege!

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A True Gun-Like-Cars System

• Already present in the 31 U.S. states that issue
  concealed carry permits
• Such concealed carry laws are strongly opposed by
  gun control groups regardless of the lower crime
  rates that have consistently and continually
  resulted from such measures
• Permits require background checks, testing, and
  other means that exceed most car license
  requirements
• States that have enacted such laws have seen an
  immediate and continual drop in crime rates with
  few if any instances of problems from those
  licensed to carry firearms

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Conclusions

• Gun registration schemes inevitably lead to
  confiscation of firearms from law-abiding
  citizens and the removal of self-defense rights
• Gun licensing is focused on honest citizens and
  therefore only penalizes and taxes those that are
  not responsible in any way for crime or violence
• Criminals are not required to register their guns
  or obtain a license based on Supreme Court
  rulings
• The billions of dollars required to fund such a
  process would be simply wasted, instead of used
  to support proven crime fighting measures and
  programs
• There is no crime fighting value to registration
  or licensing and in fact such measures will lead
  to an increase in crime and violence

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References

• Kopel, David B. Why Treating Guns Like Cars
  Might Not Be Such a Bad Idea, Reason Magazine,
  November 1999. http//www.reason.com/9911/fe.dk.t
  aking.html
• Lott, John R., More Guns, Less Crime
  Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws,
  University of Chicago Press, (1998).
• Kopel, David B., Lethal Laws, 15 N.Y. L. Sch.
  J. of Int. Comp. L. 355-398 (1995).
  http//www.2ndlawlib.com/journals/lethal.html
• Cramer, Clayton E. Kopel, David B., "Shall
  Issue The New Wave of Concealed Handgun Permit
  Laws, 62 Tenn. L. Rev., 679-757 (1994).
  http//www.2ndlawlib.com/journals/shall-issue.html
  
• Gottlieb, Alan M., Gun Ownership A
  Constitutional Right, 10 N. Ky. L. Rev. 113-140
  (1982). http//www.2ndlawlib.com/journals/gottcon.
  html
• Dowlut, Robert, The Right to Keep and Bear Arms
  A Right to Self-Defense Against Criminals and
  Despots, 8 Stanford L. Pol. Rev. 25-40 (1997).
  http//www.2ndlawlib.com/journals/dowdesp.html
• U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Haynes v. U.S. (309
  U.S. 85, (1968))

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Recommended Reading

• Levinson, Sanford, The Embarrassing Second
  Amendment, 99 Yale L.J. 637-659 (1989).
  http//www.2ndlawlib.com/journals/embar.html
• Cottrol, Robert J., A Liberal Democrat's Lament
  Gun Control is Racist, Sexist and Classist, The
  American Enterprise, (Sept./Oct. 1999).
  http//www.theamericanenterprise.org/taeso99b.htm
• Kopel, David B., The Untold Triumph of Concealed
  Carry Permits, 78, Policy Review, (1996).
  http//www.policyreview.com/ju196/labs.htm.
• Kopel, David B., Canadian Gun Control Should
  the United States Look North for a Solution to
  its Firearms Problem?, 5 Temple Int'l Comp.
  L.J., 1-50 (1991). http//www.2ndlawlib.com/journa
  ls/dkcjc.html
• Kopel, David B., Why Good People Own Guns
  Better Safe than Sorry, Los Angeles Times, p.
  B-5, (November 26, 1993). http//i2i.org/SuptDocs/
  Crime/Why_Good_People_Own_Guns.htm