Do you think ALL gun owners should be on an FBI watch list?
By The Horse
@TheHorse (205792)
Walnut Creek, California
June 25, 2016 12:16pm CST
Hawaii's governor has apparently signed a bill that states that all gun owners in Hawaii are to be placed in some sort of FBI database, making it easier to monitor them. If I'm understanding Hawaii law right, all guns there already have to be registered.
I'm wondering how people feel about this? I own a rifle that I bought 20 years ago in Montana. I didn't have to register it, and I used to keep it up in Montana with friends. Now I keep it safely tucked away, unloaded, in the back of my closet here in California.
It comes out of the closet maybe once a year here in CA, for target practice with a friend in the hills (on private property), and then again when I make my yearly pilgrimage to Montana (where I plink beer cans behind the cabin).
The moral dilemma: If California instituted a similar law, and required that even previously-owned guns be registered (I don't know how long Hawaii's gun registration law has been in effect), would I register this old thing? Or just pretend it didn't exist?
As a non-criminal, I probably wouldn't give a darn about being on some FBI list, but a part of me bristles at the thought of being "watched" simply because I own an old rifle.
I wouldn't mind it a bit if automatic and semi-automatic weapons were banned, by the way. Even though I'm a gun owner, it ticks me off that the NRA has our Republican-controlled Congress in its pocket.
18 people like this
7 responses
@Bluedoll (16774)
• Canada
25 Jun 16
@TheHorse See that's the internet for you. I thought you were a girl. No no! Don't turn around!
I agree with technology they should make moving targets for target practice though the little critters can be annoying. Right now I have a skunk under my front porch. Sometimes wish you were here and in a bad mood.
3 people like this
@TheHorse (205792)
• Walnut Creek, California
25 Jun 16
@Bluedoll What made you think I was a girl? Should I "man up" my writing style a bit? Here's my Hemingway: He turned toward her. She smelled of sweat and flowers. He kissed her. It was good. How's that? The only animal I ever shot was a skunk. I was 14. It felt bad. I vowed never to shoot another animal. I have not.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205792)
• Walnut Creek, California
25 Jun 16
Explain! The guy is me. We go way the heck out into the country so there will be no stray bullets hitting turkeys or people (even if the people are turkeys). My friend shoots ground squirrels, but I don't, even though they're my "enemy" right now.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
25 Jun 16
You have voiced the fear of the nut cases who own dozens of weapons. They do not want "Big Brother" knowing that they are bat-poo crazy.
2 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
25 Jun 16
@TheHorse I believe your wee wee comment to be very accurate (just guessing here, no empirical evidence). I do think all military style weapons should be bought back from the current owners and not sold in the future.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (205792)
• Walnut Creek, California
25 Jun 16
@ElizabethWallace I don't see them as necessary. If we wind up with a tyrannical government, and have to defend ourselves against it, our rifles and shotguns will do.
2 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
26 Jun 16
@TheHorse If that were the case, rifles, shotguns and/or assault rifles will not do. Nothing would do. Don't you ever watch science fiction movies?
@dlr297 (5409)
• United States
25 Jun 16
if they are registered why does the FBI need to have a database...I think when they try to start confiscating them it will make it easier.
The constitution of the United states says we can bear arms. it reads "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." If we are attacked by anyone we should be able to have the weapons on hand to protect ourselves. This is not for hunting. But it is for protection of enemy's domestic, or foreign. The NRA is protecting our 2 amendment rights. All they are doing is chipping away at our rights. We should be able to have any weapons at our disposal that any enemy has.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205792)
• Walnut Creek, California
25 Jun 16
Yeah, but there's enough of us that we don't need AR-15s, or whatever they're called. Let the army have those. I could take out a terrorist with my open-sight .22 if I needed to. An eyeball shot at 30 yards would be no problem. My friends with 30.06s wouldn't need to be as accurate. I don't fully buy the "chipping away" rhetoric. That sounds like NRA propaganda.
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
26 Jun 16
The NRA is definitely one of the more powerful groups @TheHorse . I agree about the automatic and semi-automatic weapons being banned; there is no reason for a citizen to have one. When I had my 'incident' back in 2004, they confiscated my .22 rifle and said I could get it back after my probation was over. When I went back, they said they couldn't find it. My conceal/carry license was also taken away from me. I'm probably on the FBI's list anyway because of all the articles that I've written about our government.
1 person likes this
