The authors argue that better controls on gun ownership would not violate the second amendment or the District of Columbia v Heller, a case that affirms the right to ‘keep and bear arms’:
A more effective system would require everyone who owns or acquires a gun to register it. Gun owners would also need a license that could be obtained by demonstrating they can use a gun responsibly, and passing a background check.
Registration records would create a comprehensive database of all guns and their owners. During a criminal investigation, when a gun was recovered from a person who was not its registered owner, that person would face serious penalties. But so, too, would the registered owner if he had failed to report that the weapon was no longer in his possession.
Under this system, anyone selling or possessing unregistered firearms would face huge legal risks. Overnight, gunrunning and other illegal arms trafficking would become easier to prosecute.
Emerging technology will also help. Registration could include recording the unique characteristics of a firearm’s barrel. That, combined with stamping ammunition with identifiers, could someday make shooting at someone much like leaving fingerprints at the scene of the crime. Firearms offenders would become far easier to catch, and the prevalence of firearms crime would decline.
Tough gun laws along these lines can work. Registration would not prevent law-abiding people from owning guns, but it would make life far more difficult for criminals.
The GOP find this anathema, however.
from Stowe Boyd http://stoweboyd.com/post/139910333032
