You don't need a federal ID to buy a gun, but you do need one to become a gun dealer. Private sales between individuals are generally not regulated, which is a loophole that needs to be closed. There is probably a rule that says you can only sell so many guns a year before you have to become a licensed dealer, but I don't know what it is. In Michigan you used to need a special permit to buy a handgun, but I think that has been subsumed by the concealed carry permit. Concealed carry permits used to be restricted to people who needed one for a good reason, but now they need a good reason to deny you one. Technically, you don't need a permit to carry an unconcealed gun in Michigan but, if you try it in a public place, they will likely cite you for "brandishing a firearm", or disturbing the peace. Handgun owners generally find it easier to just get the concealed carry permit and be done with it, but there were some people a while back who were trying to test the open carry law. I don't know what became of that, haven't heard anything about it lately.
Concealed carry applicants must take a course and pass a test, but I understand that it's not difficult. Young hunters also need to take a course and pass a test before they can buy their first hunting license. I don't know if that also applies to old guys who decide to take up hunting later in life. When they first passed that law, it said that you needed it if you born after a certain date, so some of us were grandfathered in.
Other than that, the only thing you need to buy a gun from a licensed dealer is an "instant" background check. It's not exactly instant but, unless their computer is down, it only takes a few minutes. First you have to fill out a form that says you are not a convicted felon, drug addict, or mental patient. The computer check is just to make sure you are telling the truth. The problem with that is that your mental health information is protected by privacy laws, so the only thing they can really check is your police record. That's another loophole that needs to be closed, in my opinion.
Michigan and some other states are currently considering legislation that is modeled on a law that California passed some time ago. What this would do is enable the police or anybody who knows you to get a court order temporarily confiscating all your guns if you are having mental health issues that might make you a danger to yourself or others. You can recover your guns only if you can prove that you're all better now which, I suppose, would require a doctor's testimony. They are saying that, if Florida had such a law in place, it would have prevented the latest mass shooting there. It seems the shooter had mental health issues that his own mother had reported to the police because she was worried about him. The police came and talked to him more than once, but they had no legal power to confiscate his guns because he hadn't done anything yet.
Some European countries require hunters to carry liability insurance, which is really cheap because claims are so rare. As far as I know, that just applies to hunters, but it wouldn't be much of a stretch to extend the rule to all gun owners.
I didn't bother to get a certificate for that political quiz, I just wrote down my numbers. My 0.5 on the economic scale puts me just right of center, and my -2.92 on the social scale puts me about a third of the way into libertarian territory. Funny thing, I don't remember any questions pertaining to gun control, but a certain amount of memory loss is normal at my age.
No comments:
Post a Comment