Registries in the US have very poor compliance rates; under 5% for a rifle registry in CA in the 1990s (the Atty General called the registry "a failure"), and a

Registries in the US have very poor compliance rates; under 5% for a rifle registry in CA in the 1990s (the Atty General called the registry "a failure"), and a similar rate for a more recent attempt to register long guns in Connecticut. The government can run through the physical paperwork (held by dealers), but it's slow, inaccurate and inefficient. Many people think that is a feature. [The funny thing about "assault weapon" bans is that of two firearms that are functionally identical, one will be banned because it merely looks evil -- black and creepy looking -- while the other will be explicitly allowed in legislation. It's political posturing that just creates more criminals and does nothing to address the underlying causes of violence, namely failed socio-economic policies and the war on drugs, which creates a nice, solid economic base for gangs].