Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Boomsticks: Licensing guns.

Thanks to psycho-boy, the one-note chorus has started chirping again, asking their thick-witted questions. LawDog has handily demolished the "Why don't we license guns like cars?" line, but I'd like to expand on that one with a little thought experiment I picked up from Marko back in the day.

When someone asks you about licensing and registration, pick up a pen and a sheet of paper. Tear the paper in half and hand half to your questioner. Say "Okay, this pen is a gun. The paper I'm holding is my license and the paper you're holding is the registration. Using only these two pieces of paper, explain to me just how you are going to keep me from shooting someone?" After the initial red-faced sputtering, the responses are invariably hilarious.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

We license drivers, and yet over 40,000 people are killed in the US every year in car crashes. I shudder to think what would happen if we licensed gun owners...

Unknown said...

Don't you know? 40,000+ car accident deaths a year are "the price of freedom", and a few thousand firearm deaths (half of which are suicides) are "unworthy of a civilized society."

theirritablearchitect said...

Yet, when confronted with your argument, the nannies scream something about intent. To which I must comment to them that it is merely my intent to A) have fun at shooting, and B) keep my family safe. That intent is benign enough, but not to them, is it?

If only it really was about that, intent, I'd be satisfied. Instead, we get dealt a different standard, without the common sense toward the real outcome. Cars are dangerous, and made more so by folks who don't understand them, or the physics involved with making them accelerate, stop or steer, and I see people doing stupid stuff every day that exacerbates even that lax attitude, e.g. cell phones. The outcome of this appalling situation is the 40,000 car related deaths that you mention.

How many of those are related to alcohol consumption? I'll wager that the gun-grabbers don't consider the booze or its manufacturer to be responsible for those "senseless" deaths, though I know I've seen some cases where the serving establishment has been sued for serving these kinds of people. The point is, I don't here any voices about re-establishing Prohibition, and well there shouldn't be, since it's not about that, but personal responsibility. That, of course, can NEVER be associated with the horrendous killings like we all witnessed this week, because that would actually assign blame to the party that is responsible for the atrocity, and the Leftists can't have that.

Bah! Enough.

Time to batten down the hatches and prepare for the impending storm, and hope it never comes.

Anonymous said...

It fluctuates a little, but not much: approximately half of all automotive fatalities involve alcohol.

Anonymous said...

You don't need a license or insurance to own a car. You can buy all the cars you want and keep them in the garage or drive it around the pasture. You only need the license and insurance when you get out on the public roads.

So this may be a valid argument for requiring a Concealed Carry Permit to pack, but it has nothing to do with purchase or ownership.

T.Stahl said...

Germany has 27% the inhabitants of the USA, but only 12% the traffic deaths. But why?
Better driving schools with better driver's training?
Less or higher speed limits?

Anonymous said...

license guns like cars, ok I can buy as many cars as I want and do not need to register them or have a license unless I wish to use it on public propery, and there are certain exceptions to that even. The license is obtained by taking a trivial test and paying a fee >$50. This license is honored by all 50 states, and if I move to a different state I just have to give them my out-of-state license and they give me a new on. I am not restricted as to the capabilities of car I can operate either. So yeah, let's license guns like cars, it looks to be a lot less restrictive than what we have. I want my unlicensed, unregistered Ma Duece to use on private property.

Rob K said...

The point is, I don't here any voices about re-establishing Prohibition...

Listen a bit harder. There are plenty of neo-prohibitionists.

Anonymous said...

3 reasons that licensing guns like they do driving is a non-starter:

1. Owning and driving a car is not an enumerated right according to the US Constitution

2. There is not a well-funded, well-organized group of people whose stated intent is to change laws such that only government officials may own/drive cars, and therefore no threat that such licensing will lead to confiscation

3. Confiscation of automobiles has never been a precursor to some of the worst atrocities ever visited upon people by their governments

Case closed.

Anonymous said...

Germany has a lower amount of deaths both because of it's much higher driving standards and also because the country's much smaller. Which means that most people walk home from the pub. Thus a much lesser amount of alcohol induced deaths which higher licensing standards wouldn't necessarily counteract