10-04-2019, 02:53 PM
(10-04-2019, 12:40 PM)fredtoast Wrote: What is your problem with being licensed to own a gun? And this is aimed at not just Bels, but everyone else who said they would not. (Harley, Dill, Mmichaelsean, Cupcakes, Bfine, etc)
Right now when the police encounter a person with a gun they have no idea if that person is a violent convicted felon or mentally unstable. And if that person has no ID on them it is impossible to find out.
Then there is the issue of people who have no clue how to safely use a gun possessing one.
Seems to me anyone who cares about keeping guns out of the hands of violent criminals, people who are mentally unstable, or people who have no idea how to safely use a gun would be in favor of a gun license.
The individual right to bear, or own, arms is established. I am against arbitrary barriers to civil liberties as defined in the Constitution. Ownership of a firearm is not an issue of public safety. However, license to carry one in public? That I can agree with. I don't think that a license should be required of anyone to possess a firearm or transport one unloaded to a range. Carrying a loaded firearm on one's person in public outside of a range or in a vehicle should require a certification and license. If you are seen carrying a firearm in public, then police could request that license. No license, not allowed to have it on them. License not on your person? Also a fine.
I'm less concerned about someone that owns firearms solely for hunting or home protection. One, hunters have to pass a safety class to hunt. But two, these groups don't pose any risk to the general public. Idiots out there walking around with an AR-15 or a Glock on their hip out in the open (not saying everyone who does this is an idiot, but we all know some of them are) concern me, and I would like to know that they have passed a course in firearm safety that tells me they know how to keep their booger hook off the bang bang switch, or at least have been taught how to properly handle a firearm in public.
Requiring a license to simply possess a firearm is a step too far against the Constitution in my view. It's an extra layer between an individual and their civil liberty. It is the same thing as adding a requirement to exercise your right to vote or telling someone "oh yeah, you have to identify your religion on these government documents." None of those things are right.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
