Fire Away

I had a thought, earlier, which is always dangerous.
But it's a thing I'd like to discuss.



First, a preface: I am not a fan of a gun registry. I like what it could accomplish, but I also recognize it is a very dangerous step and while it might not directly infringe on Constitutional rights at the time it was first implemented, it could very very very easily be used to do just that, if anyone ever had the notion later on.

That being said...

I was thinking about a way to quickly identify whether or not a person was legally able to purchase a firearm. Not a lengthy background check or a registry of purchased weapons, nor even a "gun buyer identification," so to speak.

I was thinking about a symbol that could be added to any existing form of photo ID.
Say a picture of a gun. No more intrusive than the symbol for organ donors. Would go in one of the unused bits of real estate on your driver's license or state issued ID. (A side-note, I'm predicating this idea on the notion that states are going to begin providing these photo identifications free of charge, since so many of them are requiring said identification to vote now and a failure to provide the ability to vote free of charge is already tantamount to a violation of a citizen's Constitutional rights. Thus there is no extra "fee" involved. Bear that in mind.)

Don't even put anything into law that forces businesses to check for the symbol...just put it there, and let them decide whether or not to use it.

Let's say the symbol appears on the license of anyone able to purchase a firearm legally - that is to say United States citizens over the age of 18 with no felony convictions. You could even go so far as to say no convictions for violent crime. This means that the symbol cannot effectively be used like a gun registry - it wouldn't be able to track how many weapons you purchased or even if you did at all.

But consider, for instance, a gun show. Suddenly there's a thing they can look at which provides an effectively instant background check (you do have to renew licenses every 4 years anyway.) No extra hassle (at least no more than having a bouncer check your ID for legal age at a bar), no one can really use it to infringe on your Constitutional rights even if they wanted to try.  Business owners would have the discretion to use or not use it as they saw fit, so it'd be fairly market-controlled.

I'm not really saying it'd cut down on gun crime, but it would be a pretty handy tool.
Also, at least in my mind, it beats the shit out of trying to argue the situation out as to how to implement background checks for weapons purchases.
Thoughts?

- C