Fredericksburg Letter to the Editor: Establish National Gun Registry

Let’s keep close tabs on every gun in America

For the increased safety of all citizens, America should require registration and annual inspection of every gun, civilian and military, manufactured and sold within and imported into America, just as we do with vehicles. Autos kill. Guns kill.

No gun sale or “giveaway” would be possible without a new inspection in the name of the new owner, or the previous owner would be held accountable for the whereabouts of the weapon and subject to appropriate legal action.

The immediate benefits of this new policy would be: (1) to reduce the number of murders by guns in America, and (2) to severely curtail illegal gun exports to and imports from other countries.

The safety of the Mexican border area with the U.S. would be the first to benefit from this method, especially if the Mexican government also implemented this annual inspection system.

The same goes for Canada and the Canadian-American border. This inspection system, implemented worldwide, would benefit all.

I sent this idea to President Obama months ago, and he wrote back that the idea had merit. There has been no action to date.

Thus, there should be reduced objections to such inspections because Americans may own such weapons per the U.S. Constitution. And the American public would be held responsible for every weapon we manufacture, buy, and own.

There can be no more lame excuses that “somehow my gun was stolen” or “I lost it.” Ownership safeguards would be more highly used. Crimes would be more traceable to the current owner, or trail of ownership, of every gun.

Daniel B. McElwain Jr.
Culpeper

courtesy fredericksburg.com