rjung, you’re not being clear when you talk about a registration, training, and licensing system.
Do you mean a system where a license to carry a gun could not be denied except for cause (like automobiles), or do you mean a system where a license to carry a gun is only available at the whim of the issuing authorities like those in NY, NJ, CA, MA, MD, and others? Do you mean a system where you’re not required to have a license to own guns and/or keep them on your own property (like cars), or one where you need such a license like NY, MA, MD, IL and others? Do you mean a system with one-time registration where you report your new gun (like cars), or one in which you have to renew the registration constantly (NY, NJ) and be guilty of a felony if the paperwork takes longer than its supposed to, or perhaps one with registration where the registration forms haven’t been available for close to 20 years (Chicago)? Do you mean a system where any actual training is acceptable, or one in which only certain approved classes are allowed, all of which happen to be filled up every time they’re offered (MI before the new law) or other “Literacy Test” type tricks?
The problem with being ‘pro-license and registration’ is that such systems in practice are overwhelmingly anti-gun, as are most “reasonable” schemes put forth in Congress. Thus, if you support pretty much any of the ‘licensing and registration’ schemes that have been proposed or implemented, you’re definately in the anti-rights camp whether you realize it or not. Sure, it seems like a good idea to require that voters be able to read - but in practice “literacy tests” were just a cover, not really about a literate electorate at all.
And, of course, one might ask just why you support these laws - do you have any evidence that registration, for example, provides any benefit to society for the huge costs it incurs (see Canada’s gun registry, $1 billion so far)? Is there any evidence that licensing actually reduces the number of guns used in crime or other benefit to offset the monetary and personal costs that jumping through licensing hoops requires?
And as far as your complaints about the NRA, they are the group that pushed for instant background checks (instead of waiting periods with no check like the Brady Bunch wanted) and that is pressing for Project Exile, the program to actually arrest criminals for committing crimes with guns (it’s pretty obvious that imposing a complex network of restrictions but not forcing criminals to serve time for breaking the laws serves only to hinder law-abiding gun owners). It’s not as if the US prior to 1968 was awash in crime compared to today, despite the almost complete lack of Federal (and most state) restrictions on guns - crime rates went on a steady rise for 25 years after the GCA was implemented.
