Gun Registries

Written by Spencer Aland


There has been a lot of talk recently about gun registries since Canada has voted to disband its long gun registry. I wrote earlier that I am in favor of eliminating this registry, but I want to take some time to talk more about gun registries and how they relate to the 2^nd Amendment.


While I am not in favor of long gun registries, it is not for the same reasons as most gun advocates. I think a long gun registry is economically a waste of time and money; the number of crimes committed with long guns is so small that it is quite easy to trace them back to their original owners without any type of registry. Handguns however are a different story. Nearly all gun crimes are committed with handguns, almost all illegal sales are handguns, and handguns are among the top items stolen during home burglaries. I am in favor of a handgun registry and firmly believe that it does not infringe on the right to bear arms.


The idea of a gun registry is simple; it assists the police in discovering who was involved in a gun crime. I’m sorry to those of you that feel like a registry is a government conspiracy to be able to disarm the public at will, but I just don’t think there is any merit to that claim. If the government wanted to disarm the public I don’t think that a registry would make much of a difference since the military would likely have no problem going home to home if personal liberties were already so low that forcibly removing firearms was even an option.


The fact of the matter is that a handgun registry does not infringe on the right to bear arms. If you are a law abiding citizen you should be able to buy a gun whenever and wherever you want to, but the fact that you have to register that gun doesn’t block you from exercising your right. A registry does only one thing: it tells the police who purchased the weapon involved in a crime so that hopefully they can trace it back to whoever used it. I am a strong advocate of the 2^nd Amendment, but a gun registry has nothing to do with that. Arguing that a registry is an invasion of privacy is one thing, but please don’t drag the 2^nd Amendment into it.