Quote:
Originally Posted by buggyone
I saw in the Daily Sun a few days ago that a Villager was cleaning his pistol and shot himself in the stomach. How can a person who has handled guns enough to own one be so careless not to check and double check that the pistol was unloaded?
Was it a case of being careless or possibly just too old to have a gun?
I know there are no maximum ages for driving or for gun ownership but at some time, most people do voluntarily (or at the insistence of family) give up keys to the car. What about for guns?
I have always advocated a yearly vision and driving skill test for drivers over 80. What about a vision and shooting skill test for gun owners over 80?
|
I tend to enjoy buggyone's recurring posts related to his preoccupation with limiting other's access to guns.
Mainly, the posts tend to bring out points of view that show that others are unfamiliar with existing firearms laws. For example, CFrance and Trayderjoe appear to believe that there is a system of "firearms registration and licensing of guns."
A central registry of firearms ownership is prohibited by the federal
Firearms Owners' Protection Act of 1986. The pertinent paragraph is:
"No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of the enactment of the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof,
nor that any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or dispositions be established. Nothing in this section expands or restricts the Secretary’s [1] authority to inquire into the disposition of any firearm in the course of a criminal investigation."
Further, after a person who is purchasing a firearm undergoes a national background check, the records of that check are to be destroyed withing 24 hours.
---------------------------
1. This does not mean that many firearms that are recovered at crime scenes or otherwise cannot be traced in some manner. The manufacturer is required to keep a record of the firearms dealer who purchased the gun and the dealer is required to keep a record of the individual to whom the gun was sold. Any further disposition of the gun that goes through a licensed firearms dealer is also recorded.
But, of course, the chain is broken if the firearm is stolen or disposed of in a private transaction.
2. The State of Connecticut recently passed an "assault weapon" registration law which appears to be contrary to the Firearms Owners' Protection Act, which may explain why thousands of citizens of Connecticut have defied the law. It will be interesting to see how this is handled in the courts.
----------------------
I'll speak to the actual content of buggyone's original post in a later message.