Registration Required?

Anti-gun supporters have been trying for decades to make it illegal for lawful citizens to own a gun and use it to defend their life, their property, or their family.  Think this is fiction?  A Chicago man was charged after he defended his and his children’s lives with a legal handgun.

With the recent overturning of the gun ban in Washington, D.C. the anti-2nd Amendment folks are at it again but this time they have a different tactic.  If you’re trying to break into a house and the front door is locked and there are bars on the windows might as well try going through the garage.  That what Democratic lawmakers are trying to do by proposing bills to require all ammunition to be registered.

Micro stamping can be defeated by using a revolver.

Basically if this idea becomes law in a state or on a Federal level it means that every single bullet that is produced whether by the Acme Bullet Company or John Doe making bullets for his 100 year old pistol will need to have a serial number stamped on it which, in theory, can then be traced back to the person who bought it.  Presumably, in tracing who bought the bullet the police can then learn who committed the crime.  Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?  In reality this is just another idea from the minds of Liberals who want to see the Right to Bear Arms eliminated and, in the end, it won’t do anything to reduce crime.  And besides, even if you commit a crime using a handgun you can just use a revolver and keep the shells with the serial numbers on them!

If somebody is intent upon committing a crime they will carry through with it regardless of the consequences.  In places like England, which have essentially banned guns, the murder rate has increased while in places like Florida, where the right to legally carry a gun has been allowed murders have decreased.  Requiring ammunition to be stamped and tracked in a database will only make it very expensive to own for legal gunowners while criminals will obtain it anyway either through using fake IDs to buy ammo or by stealing it from stores or homes.  How would this be traced exactly?

The backdoor approach the Democrats are taking is a clever one because it appeals to the average person’s thinking that they register their car, they register to vote, why not register ammunition?  The politicians who are currently trying to sell this idea in 18 states would not only have each bullet numbered but they would also charge a tax of $0.05 per round (is it about public safety or increasing taxes?) and require all non-stamped ammunition to be destroyed by 2011 including people who make their own bullets for obscure weapons that haven’t been produced for 100 years and are not used in any crimes because they are either too valuable, ineffective, or impratical such as blackpowder rifles and pistols.  Additionally, many people collect mil-surp (military surplus rifles) and buy their ammunition in bulk containers of 500, 1,000, or larger quantities because it is so inexpensive.  I, for example, own a Mosin-Nagant rifle (similar to the one featured in the movie Enemy at the Gates) and can buy a box of 20 rounds for $10.00 on the mil-surp market whereas a newly manufactured box of 20 would set me back $25.00.  All of these mil-surp rounds could never be stamped because they have already been manufactured (some as long ago as 25 years) and thus would be illegal for me to own.  This is what I call the backdoor approach to banning guns.

Will we need to shoot like this to protect our privacy?

Let’s go back to the matter of preventing gun violence by requiring individually numbered bullets for a moment…  Were I a criminal intent upon robbing somebody (a crime in itself) why would I care if the bullets in my gun were stamped and could be traced back to me?  Wouldn’t I simply break into a store and steal their ammunition?  Or if I owned unstamped ammunition (there are surely billions of rounds out there) would I really make sure it was destroyed by 2011 as these bills require?  Of course I would find a way to break the law in my attempt to break the law therefore it would have no consequences for me.  If I legally owned a rifle that I used for target practice the effect would be the amount of money I would have to pay to enjoy my hobby might become so expensive that I would have to take up a different interest like stamp collecting.  It would still be legal for me to own my rifle but the net effect would be that it would be so expenisve to actually use it that I could not, in effect banning ownership.  That’s what the anti-gun lobby wants.

Every law has many unintended consequences.  One thing this bill would surely do if it became law would be to further decrease the numbers of hunters who buy permits every year from their states.  With hunting already on the decline, deer populations across the U.S. have exploded and state revenue from hunting permits has fallen.  I predict that the states would not only lose much more money but would also see many more calls to the police as frustrated, hapless suburbanites dial 9-11 because Bambi is eating the vegetables in their gardens.

This 100 year old revolver would need micro stamped bullets.

You will also see many companies that make, sell, and distribute ammunition close, raising unemployment rates and, because criminals disregard the law anyway, crime rates would not be lowered.  After all, if guns in England were banned and crime increased why would having ammunition stamped lower crime?

Once again, when a political party can’t further their agenda by being straight forward they seek more devious methods to get their way.  The Ammunition Accountability Act is just another attempt to limit the freedoms that we Americans currently enjoy because of the U.S. Constitution.  The Supreme Court re-affirmed, at least for Washington, D.C. residents, the right to keep and bear arms, but apparently even the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court aren’t right.

Lastly, remember that a citizen has the right to defend himself while a subject does not.  Maybe you need to ask yourself who in office is for supporting your freedoms and who is against you enjoying them?

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