How much info is on file with a new gun purchase?

[wiscoaster]

There is no way you can possibly imagine every what-if scenario, so trying to understand and prepare for all of them IS silly and all it does is get your BP skyrocketing.

Well, it's a different philosophy toward life, I guess. Being prepared is how I avoid my BP skyrocketing. In my career I was a professional pilot. We what-if every concievable hypothetical scenario no matter how remote. It's how we get you safely back on the ground. Most pilots go through their entire career without experiencing an engine failure on takeoff. Yet we practice it twice a year in the sim. If it ever happens, we don't have time to get out the book and figure out how to deal with it. We have to do the right thing and do it right now or we're all dead.

To illustrate my point with a "flying story" (and really way off topic, my apologies) - I was once crewed with another guy who was also rated as Captain. It was his leg - ie he was PF ("pilot flying" / left seat) and I was PNF ("pilot not flying" / right seat). Captain is responsible for making inflight decisions. As we were flying westbound into stronger than forecast headwinds, and got a later start than scheduled, it looked like we'd be arriving at destination after dark, and it looked like we were pushing reserve fuel. We had a cockpit discussion about continuing or landing short to refuel. I brought up the "what-if" scenario of not being able to land at the destination. The weather was fine, so that wasn't expected to be a problem. But other things happen that close airports. He elected to continue. We made it to destination just fine but after dark as expected and proceeded to approach and land. However, immediately after landing, during rollout, the airport went absolutely pitch black from a power failure. IF we had arrived about 10 or 15 seconds later we woudn't have been able to land, and it was an airport with no other suitable airports nearby.

Ya, I guess I'm philosophically and habitually inclined toward what-iffing. I've found it to be a useful tool.

 

[aaronu]

I am not a pilot but my career field is 100% risk assessment and mitigation. So I get it. What-iffing is useful. More than useful.

It becomes even more useful depending on one's direct ability to understand, anticipate or better yet directly influence the events under speculation. With stuff like gun control legislation it's been a constant battle and we have, at best, indirect influence. We have probably hundreds of bills to contend with, and even more at the state level. Or even county level and city level. There are too many attack vectors to prepare for or defend against them all, even if we could. And it is too easy to get caught up in all those hundreds of what-ifs. After digging below a certain depth into that giant pit of what-if's we need to stock not only bullets and TP but also tin foil to keep making our hats.

The pilot story is good; it illustrates two professionals figuring out which "what-if's" to consider, and which to prioritize. Bad that the PF didn't take your suggestion, good (and lucky) that you were able to land. Even during that exercise you took a ton of stuff into account and discarded it as a potential concern for that flight. Some stuff, like mechanical failure, you train for and consider an acceptable risk. Other stuff, the chances are so low you have to roll the dice and take your chances that it won't happen and/or you have the training, mindset etc to mitigate those odds. As I am not a pilot I can't really list all the stuff you might know about that you discounted as not an immediate risk. So mostly joking I will substitute unexpected severe weather, terrorist attack, deranged flight attendant, asteroid striking the earth (or your plane), EMP... those things are not likely and you simply can't plan your day around stuff so unlikely... or you already have some protections in place and just accept the risk. For every what-if a responsible pilot might consider there are probably hundreds of what-ifs that are dismissed out of hand.

Back to gun legislation, most of the anti-gun bills fall into this latter category. There are tons of symbolic or "hail-Mary" efforts. Still to be taken seriously but not a daily concern the average gun owner needs to prepare for. They are only real threats if enough politicians take them seriously.

The way I play it -- separating the wheat from the chaff in terms of threats to our gun rights -- is that I listen to the experts. SAF, GOA, CCRKBA, CRPA, GOC etc. Sometimes even the NRA.

These organizations do constant threat assessment. I donate, what I can when I can, and I listen to what they say in terms of the most serious or likely threats. I get worried over stuff like BATFE changing the rules, new legislation, gun registration schemes etc., when these organizations get worried about it.

As for what the government knows about me and any guns I may or may not own, I am sure if they were dedicated to finding gun owners, they could identify most of them. Whether at the state or federal level, there is enough information out there that anyone that has bought a gun recently, stands a chance to be identified as such. I just don't think that's been done and isn't likely in the short term. There is no real incentive to do that (yet) and currently some level of protection against gathering that information.

And it really is true, most things that can be attributed to evil, really are the result of incompetence.

Five years out of date but: https://www.concealedcarry.com/law/are-guns-registered/

 

[SharpDog]

These organizations do constant threat assessment. I donate, what I can when I can, and I listen to what they say in terms of the most serious or likely threats. I get worried over stuff like BATFE changing the rules, new legislation, gun registration schemes etc., when these organizations get worried about it.

As for what the government knows about me and any guns I may or may not own, I am sure if they were dedicated to finding gun owners, they could identify most of them. Whether at the state or federal level, there is enough information out there that anyone that has bought a gun recently, stands a chance to be identified as such. I just don't think that's been done and isn't likely in the short term. There is no real incentive to do that (yet) and currently some level of protection against gathering that information.

And it really is true, most things that can be attributed to evil, really are the result of incompetence.

Five years out of date but: https://www.concealedcarry.com/law/are-guns-registered/

Thanks, that link contains a (partial) list of states I will never move to (or probably visit). Add IL and MA as well.

 

[wiscoaster]

Very well expressed and written. Risk assessment, threat assessment, preparedness, training, education, etc. etc. all are different forms of what-iffing probabilities and results of various scenarios and planning and acquiring and allocating whatever resources are needed and/or available to be ready for making the best possible outcome of normal and expected scenarios as well as abnormal and unexpected scenarios. Such an approach can be granularized to a specific task or be generalized to life. It doesn't mean that it takes over your life.

 

[Engineer1911]

A former female presidential candidate answered more than one question with, "I don't recall." or "I don't remember." She later wrote a detailed biography.

"That firearm is not in my possession or control at this time. I don't remember any other details." will be my official answer. My "firearm inventory" will list model, barrel length, finish, and estimated value.

 

[wiscoaster]

"That firearm is not in my possession or control at this time. I don't remember any other details."

Actually, you shouldn't even say that much.