[Blue Collar Christian]

A guy that goes to jail for drug posession or tax evasion or other non-violent crimes is not a threat to society if he owns a firearm. My point is that armed robbers, rapists etc are regularly released from jail, over and over again, obtain firearms through other than the existing legal methods anyway, and repeat the pattern over again. Why bother with regulating firearms sales when the black market is up and running for the persons inelligable for legal posession? Let's keep the creeps under wraps or fry them. Don't make it hard for me and my good citizen buddies to obtain a firearm, or have to turn in our now illegal AR-15s because repeat violent offenders are going to be released from prison.

[jdege]

Why bother with regulating firearms sales when the black market is up and running for the persons inelligable for legal posession?

Because it's a lot easier to prove that someone has a gun than that he committed some specific crime.

I think it's something like the three strikes law. If you've committed two prior violent crimes, you can go to jail for 20 years for shoplifting bubble gum.

Some say that's excessive, but I'm not bothered at all.

If you've proven, though past behavior, that you cannot be trusted, you're put on notice that we will not tolerate behaviors that we accept in others.

If you're a released felon, we don't forbid you a gun because we think that we will prevent you from obtaining one, but so that if we ever catch you with one, we can throw you back in jail, without having to wait for you to shoot someone.