And, lastly, Mavdog: I am not saying that requiring all sales/transfers of firearms to be done under the license of a FFL (licensed gun dealer) is a bad idea. Those companies would love that. They could charge a fee to watch Joe Bob sell his shotgun to Jim Bob.
I'm just saying that people won't actually go to the store to do it.
And, you also said that if a person sold a gun to someone without going through a licensed gun dealer and that gun was used in a crime, then the seller of the gun would be liable.
You may not realize that most states and cities have no registration requirements. No one knows who owns what guns in the first place. You can't trace that information very well.
Even the FBI background checks do not result in a permanent record. Congress specifically banned the FBI from keeping the records...
no registration exists outside of a few isolated places like Chicago and Washington DC. And, it hasn't helped them there...
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"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." -Thomas Jefferson
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