Red Dawn or Red Herring?

There is little more painful than watching the remake of a movie that was perfectly fine the first time.  Maybe not, it’s awful to listen to someone with a vague idea on a topic overlook common sense in favor of something alarmingly stupid.  I heard my share while handling regulation and legal compliance for federal firearms license (FFL) holders as a freelancer. It’s just gotten worse as the last few years have passed and everyone under the sun thinks they are in the know.

That’s because gun legislation reform and efforts to reduce gun violence have become ridiculously polarized.  Instead of discussing practical measures we can take to respect people’s rights and make our communities safe, discussion is skewed towards a few select arguments proposed by card-carrying wackadoodles.  They are pointless distractions that waste everyone’s time.  And what’s worse, they reinforce the misconception that the divide among us is too great to ever resolve, allowing the dangerous situation to continue.

Let’s look at gun registration.  At its core is a simple idea that a weapon commonly used to inflict harm upon another breathing being should be recorded and tracked as is passes from one owner to another.  Thanks to a small group who spent more time watching 80’s movies than perfecting their critical thinking skills, the standard argument remains that to do such would put lawful gun owners lives at risk of being oppressed by local government entities who would scour these records, identify gun owners, and impose repercussions.

I hate to break it to you, law enforcement already has access to this information-from every background check, concealed weapons permit and firearm they retrieve. The only people that face repercussions are the bad guys you bought your gun to defend yourself from. And they don’t need you to fight for them.

The other argument comes from a deep subconscious fantasy held by apocalypse junkies.  Aside from stock piling canned goods, learning field triage and downloading instructions on how to drink one’s urine off the internet, these LARP’ers believe that during an impending a military invasion, the enemy will move to gain this presumably loosely kept information to identify those most likely to revolt.  Under the plight of a full-scale incursion, these hapless gun owners would be snapped up and placed in re-education camps, just like in the movie Red Dawn.

I was a teenage girl when the movie originally came out in theaters and had a huge crush on C. Thomas Howell.  I don’t know what ended up being scarier, the evolution of his character in the movie or the way his looks declined.  

Have you seen the man lately?  He did not age well.

Aside from preserving Tom’s ability to protect our democracy against the Cubans, is it really necessary to neglect gun laws and put our own lives at risk? Does that really make sense?

We already register most important belongings. Every bank account you hold, including debit cards, are registered with the bank issuing the account.  Banks share this information with the Treasury Department, IRS, FDIC and all sorts of state government agencies all the time.  This practice has remained very secure and has not been found to put ordinary, law-abiding citizens at risk. In fact, the only people that have to be worried about this are criminals themselves.  If you use your bank account responsibly, you have nothing to worry about.  If you use it to harm others, worry.

We register our kids-not just for vaccinations and schools but for taxes too.  I must admit, I am just about over all those ‘privacy activists’ that insist they keep their children off the gird.  They are all full of crap!  As a humble public servant, I see them all the time.  Every time a stimulus payment is merely mentioned, they come out of the woodwork in droves to make sure the government knows they are out there.  Just give it up already!

We register our homes. A record of your home existed before you were ever able to turn on a light.  And that’s probably an understatement.  Between the city, county and state municipalities as well as revenue departments at all levels, your residence probably has a provenance similar to Ancestry.com. 

Probably the most accurate view of what gun registration looks like is sitting in your driveway.  Vehicle registration is something most of us are familiar with.  It’s an old, established practice managed by the states for decades that has never been known turn anyone into a political prisoner.  And no matter how you feel about it, it works.  

Let’s say your car is used to run a red light, drives on a toll road, or happens to run into the Capital Building.  Because the vehicle is registered, law enforcement knows immediately who it belongs to and where to find them.  After running the tag through their system, they will pull you up and notify you.  In the case of the first two, your contact will be in the form of a ticket or a fine, the latter will probably be a knock on your door.  In any case, the incident will be brought to your attention and your memory will be immediately taken back to the date as you recall where you-and more specifically your car-were that day.  

It’s an invaluable tool for law enforcement, saving them untold amounts of time.  You recall the date and you weren’t behind the wheel?  You probably have a good idea who was.  Was it a stranger? Your spouse? Maybe it was your kid? Even that little bit of feedback saves police the trouble of figuring out how to address the problem-before actually addressing the problem.

No matter who is behind the wheel, vehicle registration places personal accountability square in the hands of the owner.  The idea of saying, “Sorry, my vehicle has been put up for a while and I have no idea why it would be parked illegally” is simply unheard of.  When we register, we take responsibility for how its used. It also makes the owner more vigilant.  We check on the vehicle more frequently.  We lock our vehicles more often, watch who we loan it to and make sure our kids use it safely.  Shouldn’t guns be treated the exact same way? 

Surely it’s not as difficult as changing your religion and it’s not like Tom Howell needs one more thing to do right now.

I’m Jennifer Beck and I’m Jenuinely Jennifer.

Writer, Researcher and Registrant!