“Why do Democrats always need to figure out who has guns?”
The short answer is so that they can take them away.
The longer answer looks into the heart of liberalism.
A punk shoots another punk in a city. One dead, one maybe in the court system. This incurs a “societal cost” and has some “injustice” to it. The gun caused this problem, leaving a trail of tainted lives as it moves through “the streets”.
So to redeem the “true societal cost” of the firearm, all involved must pay either money or some other penance.
The guy who sold the punk the stolen gun must be scolded, the poor thief who stole it must be made ashamed, the homeowner it was stolen from must pay, the shop where the homeowner bought it must pay, the gun distributor pays, and finally the factory where it was made pays.
Societal cost is balanced and justice is spread. Some of the terrible losses suffered when the punk shot his buddy are reclaimed. Blame is placed where it belongs. We all sigh and reflect on the lessons learned.
You can only do this if you can track a gun from when it was ore to when it finally was crushed by sorrowful government officials in a special ceremony (I think they do this in Maine, ritual destruction of “crime guns”).
And then there is ammo, and knives, and deadly aluminum baseball bats.
Hugo Chavez is the perfect example of using the tyranny of the majority to force communism on Venezuela. The enabling force, promise ignorant people free stuff, and run the country from there. Exactly what is Obama's plan.