Concealed Carry vs. Registration

P

Phxdog

New member
The thought of registering my guns makes me crazy. However, like many of you, I filled out government paperwork for the ‘right’ to carry a concealed weapon. Now, I did not have to list my firearms, but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that I own at least one!

Every 4 years, I get a notice in the mail that this privilege will cost me another couple of hundred bucks, and I sign up again. Somebody out there obviously has me in a registry.

How much weight will our arguments carry against future registration attempts if we have no problem doing it now? Do I worry too much?
 
How much weight will our arguments carry against future registration attempts if we have no problem doing it now?
Click to expand...
Well, you/we apparently do have a problem with it. However, I don't think this will be an issue. So I guess I'm with WA.

On the other hand, is it possible to worry too much?
 
It's a valid question, and one I've pondered myself.

I've never filled out a 4473 - don't care to have my name in that federal database. I did not, however, hesitate to get my CCW permit when Ohio made it legal. I now have my fingerprints on file with the county sheriff's office and who knows where else. Still won't fill out a 4473, though.

Stupid, crazy or just plain illogical?

Part of me realizes that I've traded a right for a governmentally bestowed privilege - and I'm bothered by that. I don't believe I *need* a license to bear arms, but the pragmatist in me knows that it is easier to get the permit and keep my job and family if I should ever encounter a LEO while packin'.

Do you worry too much? - I'd say no. Most of us don't worry enough!

-Dave
 
An alternative point of view was brought up at a gun rights conference a few years ago - call it the "John Hancock" theory.

Ideals are great but we actually live in a place where numbers have power.

If 100 million people are voting nationally and 20 million held some form of CHL, they've now been identified as committed gun owners that will vote in a predictable fashion.

In this fantasy world where a large chunk of eligible voters have their "John Hancock", via CHL, smack in the face of those holding elected office, it's not hard to picture the reaction: politicians tripping over one another in a mad rush to appeal to that voting block.

How about if the number of 4473's increased by an order of magnitude and held steady for 5 years? How many were multiples? How many represent individual voters? If you're an anti-gun politician, are you getting nervous about who you're alienating?

Well, we're not going to see 20M CHL's and we're not going to see a long term flood of 4473's. But I believe either would be a Good Thing and intentionally hiding our numbers by staying under the radar might possibly be counter productive when it comes to keeping elected representatives in line.

At any rate, I found the argument somewhat compelling. So, I'm doing my utmost to make up for the 4473's y'all aren't filling out. :D

And I just renewed the C&R and the CHL comes up in a few months and in each case, my name will be writ large - I want to appear on the radar in a manner which will leave no doubt as to how I'll cast my ballot.

If enough of us turn up on the radar, the fight's over. We've won.
 
Well, folks - have you:

1. Bought gun stuff with a credit card
2. Post on a gun list like this!
3. Subscribed to a gun rag
4. Belong to a national or state gun organization
5. Get e-mails about gun stuff
6. Tell your friends that you like guns - I once was close to a national scandal as I knew a participant - damned if some butthole at work didn't call the local paper so I got incessistantly bugged for awhile.

If so - you are registered!! Oh, wait - wouldn't it take a search warrant to look at that stuff. But if the President thought there was a national emergency - like nutsos have guns - the 4 th doesn't mean that much.

Relax!
 
Jart is right.
Yes, the government is making you pay a fee to exercise a right. But consider what happens if nobody gets a permit. Anti gun legislators can move to get rid of a law nobody is using. What will you say at the public hearings? That you do carry, but you are breaking the law when you do so?
If you claim others are doing so, you are branding gun owners as criminals.
Most states do not make you declare what guns you will carry. They believe you own, but not what or how many. This is much different from registration.
 
Glen,

I wonder if I can add to your list "Bought Hunting License."

When you consider how visible we are as a gun owners, perhaps as Jart points out, we should stand tall and speak loudly in favor of our rights.

Still, ITSHTF I am sure that some terrible bad guy will have stolen most of my guns before I am required to turn them in.
 
My God - I have bought a hunting license - who's dat at my door. The ATF?

Shall I fight?

Seriously, gun lists love how to hide my guns and shall I fight threads. The more useful thread is about political action and elections. Convincing the mass of votes to support the RKBA.

Lobbying and voting - way to go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top