# What is 'Common Sense' or 'Reasonable' Gun Control? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 3, 2002, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115 "2002-06-03T09:41:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/141 "2002-06-10T14:10:21Z")
**minty** what’s up with this? > [@](#): > > BF, what exactly is your point? I already acknowledged that it is (generally) illegal to purchase more than one handgun per month in Virginia. What the heck are you attempting to point out that my discussion of the statute doesn’t already address? Do you have me confused with someone else in this thread? As for the universal registration idea, I’m against it for reasons I stated earlier, and put forth more succinctly by **ExTank**. As for the source of illegal firearms, I question the statistics. Please correct me if I am wrong, I thought the latest DOJ study showed that criminals obtained firearms approximately 48% of the time from family and friends via strawman purchases, less than 2% via gun shows, and approximately 15% from theft. (I forgot the numbers for the other means) ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/142 "2002-06-10T15:03:59Z")
Yes, I was mixing up you and Riboflavin, who had been badgering me about the same points I had already acknowledged in my discussion of the VA statute. My apologies for the unnecessary confusion. > [@](#): > > I thought the latest DOJ study showed that criminals obtained firearms approximately 48% of the time from family and friends via strawman purchases, less than 2% via gun shows, and approximately 15% from theft. Great. Then under universal registration, we will be able to link almost half of all firearms crimes to the bad guy’s family and friends, which is a heck of a means of identifying who had the gun at the time of the crime. 2% of the criminals would also be immediately and directly identifiable from the gun show registration, and 15% will lead back to the person from whom the gun was stolen. Sounds like an excellent crime-solving device to me. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/143 "2002-06-10T19:09:29Z")
[Certiorari denied](http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/06/10/scotus.guns.ap/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/144 "2002-06-10T19:10:30Z")
FWIW, the Supreme Court [punted](http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/06/10/scotus.guns.ap/index.html) on _Emerson_ denying cert to both it and _Haney_. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/145 "2002-06-10T19:25:20Z")
Beat ya to it, Phil. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/146 "2002-06-10T23:08:26Z")
**minty** > [@](#): > > Great. Then under universal registration, we will be able to link \<\\> …Sounds like an excellent crime-solving device to me. Hahaha… Touche… very good, counselor. Very Perry Masonesque.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/147 "2002-06-10T23:14:35Z")
Damn, I hate when I make I joke that I don’t understand. A little help here, BF? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/148 "2002-06-10T23:17:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Great. Then under universal registration, we will be able to link almost half of all firearms crimes to the bad guy’s family and friends, which is a heck of a means of identifying who had the gun at the time of the crime. Potentially. Registration in and of itself doesn’t guarantee success in linking firearms to crimes. I’d personally like to first see steps taken to reduce crime that don’t rely on registration. One question: If registration were put into place, what crime do you think should happen in the case of someone failing to register a firearm? Fine? Slap on the wrist? Confiscation of the weapon? > [@](#): > > Sounds like an excellent crime-solving device to me. But as has been mentioned, there are other excellent crime-solving devices. Like Project Exile, registration also won’t be the end-all, be-all of stopping gun crime. Personally, I would support the idea of making registration voluntary (in exchange for mild tax breaks or subsidization or some other insignificant encouragement), but I’d be concerned that a small fringe population will use that as a stepping stone to making it a requirement. The extreme pro-Controllers are ruining the entire stance of the reasonable pro-Controllers, in my opinion… ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/149 "2002-06-10T23:27:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > Registration in and of itself doesn’t guarantee success in linking firearms to crimes. I’d personally like to first see steps taken to reduce crime that don’t rely on registration. Well, I think we’ve already seen plenty of crime-control steps that don’t rely on registration. The issue as I see it is how effective registration would be. Combine universal registration with indelible identification marks and I don’t see how that could be anything other than an excellent means of linking guns to crimes. > [@](#): > > One question: If registration were put into place, what crime do you think should happen in the case of someone failing to register a firearm? Fine? Slap on the wrist? Confiscation of the weapon? Oh, I’d be happy with a decent little fine for a first offense, with increasing penalties (including jail time) for subsequent offenses. Confiscation’s a pretty good idea too, 'round abut the second or third offense, by which time it’s pretty obvious that the offender is intentionally trying to subvert the law, not just avoid a little paperwork. > [@](#): > > The extreme pro-Controllers are ruining the entire stance of the reasonable pro-Controllers, in my opinion… Trust me, it works the same way for your side. ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/150 "2002-06-10T23:58:37Z")
I thought it was very clever (? can’t think of a better word) to take what I wrote and use it to further bolster your arguement. And I thought that was very good (not for our side) but good none the less. > [@](#): > > * * * > > ## The extreme pro-Controllers are ruining the entire stance of the reasonable pro-Controllers, in my opinion… > > Trust me, it works the same way for your side. Yeah, but at least the whackos on our side are packing…😃 ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/151 "2002-06-11T00:17:10Z")
Nah. You concealed carry types talk a good game, but you almost never actually carry the handgun. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/152 "2002-06-11T11:31:58Z")
That may be true, **minty,** (it certainly was when I had a CCP), but it made it legal for me to do so when I worked nights in a bad, _bad_ part of Dallas. I may have only carried to-and-from work, but that was the only time I felt the need. And technically, I only strapped on my six-gun walking to-and-from my car at work. I never felt the need to have it on me, at all times. That wasn’t necessarily the intent of the law. It just allowed me to legally do so when I felt the need. As far as Emerson’s appeal: it looks like shrub jr. followed in his daddy’s footsteps on the gun issue, as well. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/153 "2002-06-11T11:54:53Z")
Huh? The President has no power to control the Supreme Court. He had (or probably rather “permitted”) the Attorney General take a very public stand in support of the 5th Circuit’s position, and the Solicitor General wrote a brief saying the same thing. What else was he supposed to do? ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115/154 "2002-06-12T12:49:48Z")
Here lies another gun debate in the GD. It died a quiet death. But let us not despair, as another one will pop up in approximately three to four weeks, or after a splashy media gun death, whichever comes first. Please bookmark this thread for reference come the next round so we won’t have to rehash the rehashed (yeah, right…). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-common-sense-or-reasonable-gun-control/112115.md?page=7)