WE NEED TO REGULATE CARS THE WAY WE REGULATE GUNS Jan 09, 201312:39AM

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I keep hearing people say they want to regulate guns the way we regulate cars. They don't really mean that, of course. What they mean is they want to make it acceptable to find more ways to intrude on the right to keep and bear arms.

I propose instead, we regulate cars the way we regulate guns. Let's start:

To buy or operate a standard car, one will have to be 18 years old. Under that age, adult supervision will be mandatory. This means the adult must be in the vehicle with the underage driver.

To buy a sports car, you will have to be 21. A "Sports car" will be defined as any combination of any two of the following: 2 doors instead of 4, spoked rims not requiring hubcaps, aerodynamic effects such as spoilers or air dams, a wheelbase under 100 inches, a manual transmission, a curb weight under 3000 lbs, fiberglass or other non-metal construction, or painted logos.

For every purchase, you will have to fill out a questionnaire confirming you're a US citizen, do not use drugs or abuse alcohol, have never had a conviction for alcohol related incidents or reckless driving. Lying on this form will be punishable by 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

New cars will only be purchased from Federal Automobile Licensees who must provide fingerprints, proof of character, secure storage for all vehicles, and who must call the Federal Bureau of Motor Vehicles to verify your information before purchase. They may approve or decline or delay the sale. If they decline, you may appeal the decision in writing to a review board. If they delay, it becomes an approval automatically after 10 days. However, the dealer may decline to complete such a sale in case of later problems.

Additionally, the purchase of more than two cars in a given year will require signing an understanding that buying cars in order to resell them without a license is a crime. There is an 11% federal excise tax on all new vehicles, plus any state or local tax.

Federal Automobile Licensees must agree to submit to 24/7/365, unannounced, unscheduled searches of their entire homes, businesses and any relates properties and personal effects to be named later.

Then you will be eligible to take your drivers' license test to determine your eligibility to operate on the street. Rules will vary by state, with some states requiring proof of need to own a vehicle for business purposes, and up to 40 hours of professional education. Also, not all states will accept all licenses. You will need to keep track of this information. Additionally, speed limits will not be posted. It is your responsibility to research the driving laws in each area you wish to travel through. Some communities may not allow out of state vehicles, sports cars, or even any vehicles at all. Violation of these laws will result in confiscation and destruction of your vehicle by crushing.

To have a turbocharger, supercharger (External Engine Compression Devices) or a muffler will require an application to the Federal Bureau of Motor Vehicles. A $2000 tax stamp will be required for these High Performance Vehicles. Your request must also be signed by the local chief law enforcement officer, and you must provide fingerprints. If approved in 10-16 weeks, you will be responsible for keeping your High Performance Vehicle in secure storage, and request permission in writing to take it out of state. You will need to carry this documentation with you. There are 13 states that do not allow possession of High Performance Vehicles. Be sure you are aware of those laws before planning your trips. (But really, what do you need such a vehicle for anyway? Who really needs to drive that fast? You must willingly accept and adhere to the socially accepted idea that you are inherently evil for merely possessing such a fast, high powered automobile.)

Additionally, superchargers and turbochargers must be manufactured before June 1, 1986. They may be sold and refitted by a FAL who also has a Special Occupational Tax license authorizing him to work on these. New superchargers, however, are a violation of federal law, except for use by the police or military, or specific government contractors. Expect to pay $15-$30,000 each for these items. Mufflers will only cost from $250-$1000, plus the $2000 stamp. However, once the muffler is damaged, it must be disposed of by cutting it into three pieces. Failure to do this may result in your family going through the next decade only knowing you in a prison jumpsuit and all your bank accounts seized and never replenished.

Imported sports cars will be prohibited. You may purchase other items from foreign manufacturers, but your automobile is in a special class of prohibition due to its inherently evil and sinister nature. The frames may be imported, cut into three pieces, and reassembled with US made engines and suspensions, as long as 60% of the parts are American. Shortly, though, the Transmission Loophole will be closed. The purpose of allowing imports is for spare parts, not to build more destructive "race vehicles.” Transmissions will have to be US made.

Repairs may only be conducted by a licensed FAL, who will send a truck to retrieve your vehicle. It must be a flatbed type truck, winch/dolly trucks are not allowed, under 10/$10,000 penalty. You may work on your own vehicle, but any repair that exceeds emission or performance standards will be subject to federal criminal charges. And violation of this reasonable regulation could result in not only your imprisonment and the confiscation of your assets but imprisonment of any employee or family member who was insane enough to repair your “race car” for you.

Be aware that an existing HPV may have multiple HP Features. A new HPV will require a license for each feature you wish to add to it—one each for muffler or external engine compression device. And you must request and receive, in writing, permission from the federal, state and local governing authorities prior to making such modifications.

Converting a standard car to a sports car will require payment of a $2000 tax, even if no HP features are added. However, if an FAL/SOT does the conversion on a new frame before the vehicle leaves their premises, it will only be a $50 tax. You will need to carry this documentation in the glove box at all times, the mere failure of which alone can result in an arrest and possible conviction.

There is discussion of closing the Car Dealer Loophole, through which private individuals sell cars to friends without going through an FAL. It is important we have these background checks. Surveys show criminals prefer to buy unlicensed to get around their legal liabilities so they can commit crimes in stolen vehicles, which evidence has proven for many years to be true.

Some vehicle law convictions will result in loss of your driving privileges forever. This includes reckless operation, drunk driving, an incorrect bumper height or attachment, or the wrong type of exhaust. Collisions may also result in permanent loss of driving, if injury occurs and negligence is proven. In addition, any felony conviction of any kind--even tax evasion--will mean permanent loss of your driving privileges. In these cases, it will even be illegal to ride or sit in a friend's car.

There is also discussion of prohibiting brightly colored vehicles. Vehicles are transportation, not toys, and should not be marketed in a way that suggests they are intended for casual use. It is important that everyone be aware of the dangerous nature of cars.

In the future, we may have to consider large displacement engines (anything over 2.5 liters) and transmissions with more than three speeds as being High Performance Items to be added to the federal registry. There will be a window during which you can register your items for $2000 each, provided you meet the background check. Otherwise, you will have to immediately surrender them to an FAL/SOT to dispose of on your behalf. Operating an unlicensed HPV after this date will result in confiscation and destruction of the vehicle, and the 10/$10,000 punishment.

These laws and regulations are due to drunk drivers, reckless drivers and other criminals. The automobile community should be glad it is allowed to exist at all, given all the deaths and environmental damage caused by these vehicles.

The president said today that he strongly supports your right to own and drive basic, standard vehicles for farm use and carpooling. But he and many other people have made it clear that eventually – maybe this month – we need to cease all manufacturing of such high powered automobiles for the civilian market.

Eventually, we need to move away from the notion that owning and operating a vehicle is a right and entitlement, and limit it to people with a proven, bona fide professional need. There are plenty of trains and buses for normal people. This is how most civilized nations are moving and is not a violation of your right to travel.

©2013 by Michael Z. Williamson www.MichaelZWilliamson.com
Permission to share granted for non profit purposes as long as this notice is included.

http://www.michaelzwilliamson.com/blog/item/we-need-to-regulate-cars-the-way-we-regulate-guns
 
I know a lot of people don't like comparing cars and guns, but when I hear that argument I can't help but throw in the fact that driving is a privilege granted and controlled by the states, and firearm ownership is a right guaranteed by the Constitution. Thus, anything we can say about owning and driving an automobile compared to owning and operating a firearm is more than analogy; it's hyperbole.

Antis won't like that piece: no, not one bit. But that's because they'll see truth in its hyperbole, and they don't like truth: no, not one bit.
 
Violations of federal gun law are federal criminal felonies with loss of all future gun ownership rights.

If all automobile regulations had federal criminal felony punishments, with loss of all future car possession rights, demonisation of owners in an atmosphere of moral panic, maybe the "We need to regulate guns the way we regulate cars" crowd would wake up to the possibility of Jay Leno's garage being Wacoized under Ruby Ridge Rules of Engagement.

If guns and gun owners were regulated the way cars and car owners are regulated, it would require relaxation of most federal gun control laws and the laws of many states, especially CA, NY, NJ, MA.
 
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Cars kill more people than guns. They are more dangerous. I say add to it that you can only use your car if traveling out of town. You need a permit to travel in your car out of town for each trip you make. If traveling around town you must walk or ride a bike. This only seems rational bc of the vast number of deaths involving automobiles. 35 people die every single day bc of drunk drivers alone. Not counting regular accidents involving automobiles. We need to try to pass this to make it safer for our children!
 
The argument often made by antis to counter the gun/car analogy is that cars are built for the purpose of transportation, but guns are built for the purpose of killing, so, they claim, the analogy fails.

I counter that with: Cars kill far more people than guns do, even though cars are not even designed for killing. So a car is more deadly than the thing designed to kill. It follows that guns are very inefficient, are they not, at their killing purpose, and therefore a very minor issue at worst, right? Your car is a more effective killing machine than my gun, in spite of their disparate design purposes.

You see, I then add, a gun can no more kill by itself than a car can; in fact, as we have seen, a gun is less deadly than a car. The fact that just about every driver will be involved in a collision at some point, often involving injuries or even fatalities, but most gun owners will never be involved in a shooting, also bears out that.
 
Alcohol kills, the car is just the tool

I believe we've even said it before. It's not the tool, it's the attitude of the driver. When that driver deliberately chooses to ingest a substance that will impair their ability to control the car, it kills.

I've been taking the gun control restrictions and applying them to alcohol.

Let's see, over 10,000 killed every year in traffic related accidents, and then there's all the other fights, conflicts, and stuff not involving a car at all. That means by volume of violence alone, we should handle alcohol severely.

In short:

Waiting period to pick up after initial application to purchase - three days. That should minimize the cumulative affect if daily purchase was allowed.

Registered sale with ID - adds to the existing requirement. You have to have an "Alcohol Buyer's License" with approved NICS check. Any traffic violation with alcohol involves revokes your license permanently, and also checks for any recent violations over the last three days.

Each container of alcohol be serial numbered and logged into a database at the time of purchase. That way we can track the booze that gets into the hands of teenage drivers, and reduce the three thousand who die annually by arresting and incarcerating their illegal suppliers. It isn't happening now.

A restriction on high capacity containers: Three beer limit or equivalent. That minimizes the risk of being really over the blood alcohol limit, and eliminates the ability to distribute illegally with the larger weapons of mass destruction - the case or keg.

No importation of foreign beer, as it's always high powered, which is more than the legal 3.2% limit.

A complete ban on any local, state, or governmental purchase of alcohol. Unlike the present situation, where Uncle Sam is handing out full auto M16's on loan to any PD who asks. Since WE are paying the taxes, it should be illegal to spend our money for a personal consumption item.

A ban on any device that allows the individual to drink more than one container at a time. No hillbilly twin beer can drinking caps - this is about a class war, right?

Drinking only on approved government sponsored sites, which will be in restricted quantities and have heavily patrolled access. Drinking at home, like shooting rats in the dining room, is prohibited.

No open containers in vehicles, they have to be locked in the trunk in a locked cooler. No air flight with any alcohol whatsoever. Alcohol transported in baggage must be in a locked marked container with TSA accessible padlock, and the maximum limit observed. Serial numbers will be checked and recorded.

Passage of the National Alcohol Act with these restrictions will also incorporate a method of purchasing controlled and registered amounts of high alcohol liquor, which will be for sale only thru authorized Federal High Alcohol Vendors. The FHAV will transfer the containers only after receiving the appropriate BATF transfer tax stamp, initial cost $200, with a minimum 6 month processing time. The consumer will be required to have a High Alcohol Consumer's License, which will be mandatory, $1000 for the license, one year processing time, and maintain a set of books to register the receipt and consumption, readily available to the BATF for inspection at any time. The BATF is statuatorially required to make 50% book inspections during probable consumption hours, 9PM to 2AM, when citizens are most likely to consume alcohol. NO KNOCK inspections will be the required method. Keep your bedroom doors unlocked.

Any violation will impose immediate seizure of all personal possessions as evidence until such time as a Federal judge releases them - or testing of the contents has ceased.

You know, if SNL really was looking for humor in all this, we'd already have seen the skits.
 
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What if my car is stolen, and used to injury or kill someone?... Can we sue the manufacturer of the car, for designing such an evil killing machine?
 
OP is spot on.

If you think about it, all the laws concerning cars apply to driving them on public roads. There are zero laws that I'm aware of concerning the mere purchase and/or possession of a car. People with more money than myself buy race cars that aren't street legal, and don't need to be since they take them to racetracks on trailers. These racetracks are on private land and so are under the rules of the track owner/operator and not the laws governing cars on public roads. This is a pretty decent analogy to how our rifles are stored at home on private land, transported to a range, and used at ranges on private land in a controlled environment.

There are laws on the mere purchase of alcohol, but that only requires you be over 21. There's no 1 bottle per month laws, no background check for DUI history, no laws against "hi-capacity" booze like Bacardi 151, etc.
 
Excellent post and much better written than a similar thread I started recently. Firearm ownership is a right, not a privilege, yet the privilege of driving a car is much less regulated than the rights to own a firearm.
I would argue, as it has been mentioned, that it is only a "privilege" to drive on public roadways. Owning and driving a car is absolutely a right, provided you have private property to do it on.
 
It's a great point but ...

I've gone though this with grabbers any number of times using similar examples. It's another case of logic and fact versus anger and emotion.

The truth is once they realize they are sounding increasingly stupid, they come back with the ... "Well yes, but cars aren't designed to kill people, and your guns are" ... even though they are the ones that started the analogy game.

In short, they pull up their own goal posts and carry them down field and at a 90 degree angle from the direction of play and start a new series of emotional rants.

One of my current favorites is "Well ... the 2nd doesn't say anything about bullets and we can ban those or make them really expensive!" as if they've discovered a new loophole. (I just don't have the heart to tell the little bunny rabbits about reloading)

But it's always good to shut up one line of emotional stupidity and force them to move on to a new bumper sticker philosophy. It's like distracting them with a new shiny piece of tinfoil.
 
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