Posted on 04/10/2013 8:10:04 PM PDT by tobyhill
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Tuesday said he doesn't understand why gun owners fear the registration of their firearms.
"I don't get the fear of registration," Steele said on MSNBC. "I don't get the, the concern about trafficking. Are we saying that we want criminals to, you know, make back-alley sales out of the trunks of their cars?"
Steele was part of a panel on MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown," during which former Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) said that responsible gun owners insure their guns, which means they're registered. "I mean, I don't understand," she said.
MSNBC host Chuck Todd agreed with Steele. "It feels like we're protecting the rights of the paranoid about government, rather than, sort of, the reasonable," he said.
As TPM has reported, the National Rifle Association has long warned that expanding background checks would lead to a national gun registry.
(Excerpt) Read more at livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com ...
U.S. Supreme Court’s 1968 Haynes v. U.S. decision: Haynes, a convicted felon, was convicted of unlawful possession of an unregistered short-barreled shotgun. He argued that for a convicted felon to register a gun was effectively an announcement to the government that he was breaking the law and that registration violated his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. The court, by an 8 - 1 margin, agreed, concluding: “We hold that a proper claim of the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination provides a full defense to prosecutions either for failure to register a firearm, or for possession of an unregistered firearm.” (Summary from American Rifleman magazine, March 2000, page 20) So, when these gun registration schemes are announced, be very aware that only lawful gun-owners are required to register their firearms. Unlawful owners are exempted from registration laws due to their constitutional protection against self-incrimination.
Since SCOTUS has indemnified the very people that most advocates of registration CLAIM their laws are intended for, I think we can discern the true purpose of most gun registration law, to generate lists of the mostly law abiding for some future gun confiscation.
Michael Steele the ex-RNC Chief Affirmative Action extrodinaire, petty criminal with IQ of <90. Why would anyone depend on the RNC for anything important? Time to kill it off....and let’s get something that actually is Conservative.
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