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There is certainly a hard core of criminals who go out of their way to get unregistered guns. But mostly there is not a bright line between "regular people" on
by xyzzy123 6y ago
There is certainly a hard core of criminals who go out of their way to get unregistered guns. But mostly there is not a bright line between "regular people" on one side and "criminals" on the other.
Unregistered firearms don't completely negate the usefulness of keeping track of guns, in the same way that unregistered cars don't completely negate the value of having a car registration process.
It's socially desirable to be able to investigate crimes involving guns, have some idea how many of what types exist and where, and to be able to restrict access to known firearms for specific individuals who might be having issues with violence or mental health.
I think you could reasonably make the case that in the U.S. the cat is "so far out of the bag" that there's no point even trying, but in many other countries it's a useful system.
- gumby 6y agoWhat is the value of having. A car registration process? A serious question. We don’t have mandatory bike registration. Is it just taxes? We do driving licenses have so much info unrelated to operating a motor vehicle?
- xyzzy123 6y agoCar registration helps primarily by assigning vehicle ownership / plate issuance, but indirectly with insurance, taxes, inspections & maintenance logging, crash records, ticketing, tracking stolen cars and parts, and more. Cars are expensive, deadly and ubiquitous and much of the regulation around them was written in blood. When you write "bike" I'm not sure if you mean bicycle or motorcycle. Most places, motorcycles which will be driven on public roads do require registration. I expect that bicycles don't require registration because they don't kill as many people who are not the rider, so nobody has really called for it.