Rewriting the Law

[Telemachus]

If you had the ability to rewrite all federal gun laws what would you change? I'll give an example of what I would do to get things going.

The first thing I would do is change the classifications for firearms. The NFA would be abolished along with '68 and '86. There would five categories of firearms. Rifles, shotguns, handguns, machine guns, and small ordinance/launchers. Rifles would include any shoulder-able rifled firearms, shotguns would include any firearm that primarily is designed to shoot shot shells, handguns would included any rifled gun intended to be shot without being shouldered, and small ordinance/launchers would include anything designed to fire a shell that does something after firing, i.e.: flares, smoke, launched grenades, RPGs. Small ordinance/launchers would also include thrown or planted ordinance like grenades and breeching charges. Registration would be required only for machine guns and certain small ordinance/launchers.

The current NICS system would remain for dealer purchases. Private sales would remain optional with one caveat. The buyer and seller must sit down and eat a meal together so that the buyer can ascertain the intentions of the purchaser. This of course would not apply to close friends or relatives. States would be banned from instituting mandatory registrations and laws that do not follow the spirit of, "shall not be infringed."

Finally, Federal standards would be set for CCW training and all states would be required to operate on a shall-issue basis. Open carry would be legal to anyone of age. Additionally, only bars would be allowed to ban weapons. Certain areas would be allowed to prohibit open carry.


While I am spit-balling here, I do think it would be nice if a total overhaul of gun laws took place, as long as it was in the spirit of, "shall not be infringed."

 

[bearcreek]

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed"

That's it.

 

[Sam1911]

I think bearcreek gets it right, pretty clearly. That is certainly "in the spirit of 'shall not be infringed'."

Writing a bunch of new revised laws that still establish requirements and classifications and registrations, etc., sure seems like a whole heaping bucket full of "infringed."



It might be somewhat useful to look at this rewriting exercise as development of a strategy and path toward "shall not be infringed," taking whatever victories we can get as we work toward the greater goal.

But I don't think (almost) anyone here who was handed the opportunity to rewrite the laws would CHOOSE to deliberately incorporate registration of certain kinds of weapons, mandatory training for anything, any place that could pretend to be a "gun free zone," limits on how someone may sell or buy a gun, etc.



To tell the truth, your suggestions for how to make things better for gun owners would actually make things WORSE for some of us who live in freer states!

 

[edwardware]

I'm with the founders and bearcreek on this. . .

What part of "shall not be infringed." is so difficult to grasp.

 

[Art Eatman]

The alleged reason for gun control laws is to reduce or minimize the rate of violent crimes with firearms.

Since the early 1970s I've been asking for examples of laws which have had some effect on that rate. So far, no answer. Some statisticians have concluded that such laws are a waste of time and psychic energy.

So scrap all of them except, maybe, those pertaining to violent felons and the adjudicated insane/incompetent. Odds are, the rate of violent crimes with firearms would remain unchanged.

 

[Devonai]

The buyer and seller must sit down and eat a meal together so that the buyer can ascertain the intentions of the purchaser.

"Wanna meet at Applebee's?"

SALE DENIED

 

[denton]

Since the early 1970s I've been asking for examples of laws which have had some effect on that rate. So far, no answer. Some statisticians have concluded that such laws are a waste of time and psychic energy.

Since I do a lot of stats professionally, I did my own stats on this issue.

There is no statistically detectable correlation between the strictness of state gun regulations and state homicide rates. That is, the prime interest rate or the air pressure in your tires predict homicide rates as well as the strictness of state gun laws.

So, like you, I'm still looking for the objective evidence that stricter gun laws reduce homicides, and I keep coming up empty, as do many other investigators.

There is a slight correlation between strict gun laws and suicide rates, but that is most likely a spurious correlation caused by the effect of population density. Low population density areas have higher suicide rates, and in our country, some of the better gun laws are found in low population density states.

 

[Frank Ettin]

As we say in the description of the Legal Forum on the Index Page:

In the Legal Forum we try to understand what the law is (including court decisions and proposed laws), how it works, and how it applies to RKBA issues. We focus on the way things are – not the way we think they should be.....