A gun possessed without registration, without appropriate License to Carry, without possession of a federal FID card (where required) is NOT an example of responsible gun ownership. That is such an unreasonable straw man - that it's beneath you to even have typed the words. 400 million unregistered guns (your figure) are 400 million guns that need to be removed from society. Since we are in a sports forum, how many of the 3 guns used in Milwaukee the other night outside the arena were legal? My implicit assertion is that the owners of the properly registered 6 million (your figure) guns embody a high degree of responsible gun ownership. Show me facts that disagree. Don't include in the irresponsible pool folks that are breaking the law by mere possession of an unregistered gun.
You keep talking about responsible car drivers. There is a thread here on SoSH bragging about "how fast have you driven?" I myself am guilty of stupidly indulging a curiosity about what driving X speed feels like. I'm in the guilty group. But I submit that if you've driven over 80 MPH in an area where the speed limit was 65 MPH (or 70 in a 55) then you are not in the pool of responsible car owners. It often falls into the category of reckless endangerment in many jurisdictions (and I'm not interested in the semantics of whether the tipping point is 80 or 85, the point holds). Further, as a baseline, if anytime in the last 12 months you have driven 45 MPH in the posted 25 MPH in many residential areas of towns and cities across the US, then you are not in the responsible car owner pool. Or 55 in the 35 posted. As a culture we look at 45 in a 25 like we do a white lie - no the dress doesn't make you look heavy. We just know we are late for the appointment and we can shave 2 minutes off the clock, and press a little harder on the gas. After all modern cars can stop much faster than the old cars, that 25 MPH is outdated, right? So now, tell me exactly how many responsible drivers there are in the US again? That's before we look at any person who is driving uninsured, without a valid license, etc. [Edit: Should we even discuss how many are still driving while talking on the phone which is illegal in many states and a significant danger to others?] So in your argument you want to cite millions and millions of responsible car owners (hand waiving away their actual driving habits), contrasting them with (in this post) millions of illegally possessed guns and their owners. It's a weak (perhaps intellectually dishonest) approach IMO. A reasonable discussion is not had with this approach.
Snap your fingers and let's make all illegal guns disappear. I'm personally happy with that. The world is a better place instantly. Meanwhile, how many of those unnecessary car deaths still occur? Again, let's do the same with fentanyl, better place again (until people move on to the next drug of choice of course). The point remains: we rage against some things in the face of other more significant/serious problems happening right next to us.
I again decline to get into a general gun discussion: however your last paragraph again illustrates how little you know about guns and the environment to legally own them. Did you know (in MA at least) that in order to get a license to carry (LTC) you are required to pass a safety class and a shooting test by most Chiefs of Police? I don't know if it is a state law (should be) or a federal law (should be). In fairness, the safety course is often a short 3-4 hour class (but operating a gun safely is orders of magnitude easier than operating a car - one safety switch, one control point, no phone/radio
). Did you know that to purchase a gun in MA the registered dealer does a computer check with the federal government (can't recall if it is the FBI or the ATF) portal to determine current eligibility status before the purchase can be completed? Did you know that to get your LTC the Chiefs of Police in MA do an FBI background check - and it often takes many months (from a completed application) before you get that license? There are expiration/renewal periods for LTCs as well. Did you know that certain Chiefs of Police in MA are known to have a "no LTC" rule in their towns/cities - regardless of your suitability or responsible nature. Insurance/annual fees for a gun are ridiculous on it's face and are IMO tools to prevent people from legally owning them. We carry car insurance because we individually have interactions with others around our vehicles thousands of times a day - where statistical failure is determined by the state to be high enough to justify it. Legal and responsible gun owners due not have a fraction of the interactions with others (with respect to the gun) that car owners due.
Finally, I won't speak for others, but people I know and certainly the people I know well have no issue with going through steps to ensure that gun ownership is a responsible endeavor (and for me, I'd entertain an argument about whether these steps should be consistent on a federal level not the local levels of judgement). Like everything the devil is in the details... belonging in a general gun discussion.
Signed: a person who possesses no guns, but does possess a LTC.
