I’ve blogged about this topic before. In fact, you can search my “opinion” and “social commentary” categories if you have a burning desire to hear me pontificate even more.
It looks like Washington DC tightened their gun control regulations after the Bush administration undone them.
Among other things, the bill requires gun owners to register their weapons every three years and receive training by a certified firearms instructor.
I fear that this issue is so divisive on both sides that its past the point of having a rational discussion. Still, I’ve blogged about this idea before and I’ve been saying it since before I even had a blog.
Now before someone from the Wayne LaPierre Fan Club ™ flames me for being a liberal kook please hear me out. We require more training and licensing for people to drive a car than we do for gun ownership. It seems to me that a weapon which can be easily concealed and brought into a public place to do harm ought to have as much regulation as a car.
I also agree with professor Cheh:
“No constitutional right is absolute, nor is this right to possess a gun in the home for self defense,” said councilwoman Mary Cheh, a law professor at George Washington University.
If these rights were absolute we would not take them away from convicted felons. But I digress…
And if I were a gun shop owner I’d be all over this one. Think of the business opportunity! Required training means someone has to teach gun safety! You can either let the government do it or you can certify private gun shop owners. Given that most republicans fit the capitalist stereotype it’s always mystified me why they never jump on this idea. Money usually talks but I guess this issue is just too controversial.
Anyhow, lets try to close this topic with a satirical take on gun control.
~BCP
Training is fine, but the registering and re-registering is about revenue dont be fooled.
That’s right. The only readons you have to register and re-tag your car, etc… is so they can tax it. It has nothing to do with responsibility.
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I don’t know about all that. However, my Christmas was just made. The Washington City Paper included me as one of the “nuts”.
Click Here.
Well, people flag me as a liberal, and I am proud of my progressive politics. But I am also a product of growing up in the Pacific Northwest, with outdoor living and hunting when I was a kid. Guns were part of my growing up experiance, with hunter safety class and practical field use. I’m one of the few out there that at times have actually hunted for daily food, or used guns to dispatch farm animals for butchering.
Carrying a gun in public should probably be regulated, but short of having a record for violent crime, I do believe it is a right to keep a gun in your own residence.
With that said, I think if a child living in your house gets a hold of the gun, there should be penalties to the parents for not securing the firearm properly.
I am willing to live with these guidelines. If we believe in the Bill Of Rights, we must believe in the entire Bill Of Rights, second amendment included.
-D.R.
D.R. -
I grew up in Nebraska, had hunter safety, and hunted with shotgun and rifle. I also had training in the military and when I was with the DOC. Those days are done. However, I’m not for taking away guns. I’m for training and some decent regulation.
I also think that military weapons should only be in the hands of military or law enforcement.
Again, I really think this issue has been so politicized that a serious and logical discussion is rare. The pro gun extreme labels me a kook and I’ve even got into it with anti-gun nuts that want to ban all guns period.
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Training is stupid and will be challenged in court. Note that we are not talking conceal carry permits here, but the right to have it in your home. There are no firing ranges in the city, and training should not take 5 hours.
Also, with the training, fees, and transfer costs, the price of exercising your right is now about $350..not including the gun.
This is typical of Cheh whore represents the wealthy Rock Creek Park part of DC. Bascially she is a latte liberal (while I consider myself a real liberal democrat.
Eh..Im in a position where I may have to face these “assault weapons” and Im not too concerned over the term. Unless the weapons are full automatic, the only difference between an AK or an AR and a semi-auto, wooden (nice looking) hunting rifle is purely cosmetic. Most hunting rifles are in heavier calibers too. The whole “assault rifle” “why do you need a military rifle” thing is a political ploy directed towards disarmament. A semi-auto is a semi-auto. A bayonet lug and a pistol grip are just accessories.
“They came for my AR and I said nothing..they came for my hunting rifles and I said nothing….”
bubalu -
I don’t live in DC. However, if you re-read my post then you’ll see that this is a great business opportunity for gun shop owners.
If there’s an ordinance about gun ranges in the city then perhaps that needs to be revisited by legislators and the voting public?
TG – I’ve known law enforcement who could not agree either. Semi-auto is semi-auto but there is a difference between a 5 round magazine and a 30 round magazine.
Just watch footage from the famous North Hollywood Shootout.
“Phillips and Matasareanu loaded five illegally modified fully automatic rifles: three Romanian AIM rifles (an AK-47 copy), a modified HK91 and an AR-15. They also possessed two 9 mm Beretta 92F pistols, a .38 caliber revolver, and approximately 3,300 rounds of ammunition in box and drum magazine…”
If they had five or 10 round magazines cops probably could have tackled them.
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