Gun Control Question

[seldear]

As I understand it, Australia has relatively strict gun control laws. I'm not sure exactly what those laws are, never having required the use of a firearm. (Any of the Aussies know?)

US Constitution's Second Amendment? Gun registration?

And where do you stand on the matter of "the right to bear arms" and why? Would love to hear from all sides of the fence and the pond.

Comments

[marag.livejournal.com]

::sigh:: I think it's very complicated, but I'm a big fan of registering. You need to register with the state to own and drive a car, so at the *very* least, gun owners should have to register and be checked out before they buy a gun.

I'm not opposed to hunting and such, but there's no reason for the average person to need to own a semi-automatic weapon or kevlar-piercing bullets.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

So the present situation is that people can own a gun, but the state doesn't have to know that they own a gun?

Is that what you mean by registering?

[marag.livejournal.com]

I actually can't recall the present state of the law. I think that gun registration passed, so that the state *does* know. There's also a waiting period, so that Mr. Smith can't get pissed at his wife, go buy a gun, and go home and shoot her.

However, there's been enough back and forth on this issue, that I could be wrong.

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

You need to register with the state to own and drive a car, so at the *very* least, gun owners should have to register and be checked out before they buy a gun.

And yet there's no explicit right to private transportation in the Constitution ;)

Registering will never pass for the same reason a national ID won't... Americans are cagey about their privacy, especially when it comes to the govt. Must be some holdover from the Revolution ;)

I don't have a gun, but if I did I would not necessarily want (1) a government agency to tell me if I'm good enough with it to be allowed to own it, or (2) for a government agency to be able to pull up a list of gun owners in the country and see me there. Why? Because I don't.

Also -- yes, people DO have to register to own a car, and pass a test to drive it, and yet how many kagillions of car accidents are there in the US?

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

And yet there's no explicit right to private transportation in the Constitution ;)

Snerk, try telling that to people in traffic court. Too many people believe driving is a right, not a liberty.

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

And those people need to be smacked :-D

[marag.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Thomas Jefferson would have supported car ownership ::grin::

If Americans are so cagey about our privacy, why are we allowing the government to tap our phones and get our library records? Not to mention, why is the government legislating who can marry? I'd rather the government tracked my gun ownership and stayed out of the phones, libraries, and marriage stuff.

And yes, there are car accidents, but believe me, there would be *more* if the government didn't have the right to stop Grandma Bessie who's 93 next Tuesday, and the guy who's just been convicted of drunk driving for the third time, and...

Neither cars nor guns are inherently evil, but in the wrong hands, they're very dangerous. The same can't be said for phones, library books, or marriage, except in a very extended metaphor.

To reiterate, I'm not against gun ownership. Hell, my sister's husband goes hunting regularly and I think that's fine: I don't think he's a danger to anyone except the deer in Garrett County, MD.

But I'd like to know that the registered sex offender who lives across the street from me (really, I'm not joking) doesn't have one, and if the cops find him with one, he'll go back to jail. I'd like to know that people with severe psychoses can't wander into a gun store when the voices tell them to, pick up a gun, and go shoot people.

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Thomas Jefferson would have supported car ownership ::grin::

OOH let's clone him and ask him what he thinks!

If Americans are so cagey about our privacy, why are we allowing the government to tap our phones and get our library records?

Two reasons: national security, and antipathy ;) Personally I don't care if Uncle Sam is looking at my library card or listening to my phone calls, because I send all of my subversive literature via email. :-D

It *is* a fine line, though.

Marriage is another orange (as in comparing apples and) because, again, it's not in the Constitution, so it's up to the states to determine. If the Constitution declared that one had the right to marry Bob, Julie, Fluffy and/or the Cuisinart, then that would be different.

Neither cars nor guns are inherently evil, but in the wrong hands, they're very dangerous. The same can't be said for phones, library books, or marriage, except in a very extended metaphor.

But the same can be said for knives, baseball bats, rope, axes, etc, and we don't ask people to register them.

Also no knives, baseball bats, ropes or axes in the Constitution.

But I'd like to know that the registered sex offender who lives across the street from me (really, I'm not joking) doesn't have one, and if the cops find him with one, he'll go back to jail. I'd like to know that people with severe psychoses can't wander into a gun store when the voices tell them to, pick up a gun, and go shoot people.

I can totally agree with that. As far as I'm concerned, if you've been convicted of a felony you've broken the social contract and forfeit your rights as an American citizen, including the right to bear arms (although I don't think the SCOTUS would back me up on that one ;)).

And yeah, we have a registered sex offender living on the corner, about six houses down. He always does his house up mondo wild for Christmas and it gives me the creepies.