Prince George’s proposed gun registry is a reasonable approach to crime

[SecularMotion]

GUNS WERE USED to commit two-thirds of the 97 murders in Prince George’s County last year. So the county council is considering a new strategy to reduce violent shootings: put anyone convicted of a range of gun offenses in Prince George’s on a special police registry.

Figuring out just how much specific policies would discourage illegal gun use is difficult, not least because the National Rifle Association (NRA) has repeatedly convinced Congress to pull funding from federal studies on gun violence. But any reasonable approach to stigmatize the possession and use of illegal firearms is worth trying. And this strikes us as very reasonable.

A gun registry would target only lawbreakers, and a subset of them that is particularly prone to commit violent crimes. It would not be a brand for life. For three or five years, depending on the crime, the offenders would have to update their entries every time they moved, and they would have to visit the police every six months. That would generate useful information for front-line officers who have to know the neighborhoods they patrol and detectives investigating major crimes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/prince-georges-proposed-gun-registry-is-a-reasonable-approach-to-crime/2012/05/30/gJQA0zMi2U_story.html

[gejohnston]

1. murders are usually in for life

so murderers would not be on the registry. Most violent crime do not involve guns, so how would this deter crime?

Ultimately all this would do is inspire violent people to move this county to other counties. IOW, PG County is simply exporting their problem rather than addressing real issues.

[Kaleva]

2. I think that if a majority of the murders commited with guns are..

drug and/or gang related, then concentrating on those factors ought to be the focus.

Focusing on just the guns is treating the symptom and not the cause.

[SGMRTDARMY]

4. Ding, ding, ding, we have a winning post

You are 100% correct, we need ot focus more on poverty, more and better jobs, more funding for better mental health treatment, fund the NICS better, I would also open NICS to private sellers as long as it didn't turn into some sort of a registry.

[Kaleva]

6. Michigan's homicide rate would be rather low...

if it were not for the economic carnage that is Detroit and Flint.

[SGMRTDARMY]

7. You won't get any argument out of me on that one

and if Mittens gets in office, expect more union busting, more economic downturn, and definitely more violence because at that point, what do the poor and disenfranchised have to lose?
Pres.Obama is friendly to gun owners that Mitt ever will be.

[Kaleva]

8. An interesting train of thought!

President Obama is gun friendly because his economic policies are good for the country which reduce violence caused by economic hardship which in turn reduces demands for greater gun control.

[SGMRTDARMY]

9. I hadn't thought of it that way

but you are again, 100% correct.
My take on his firearms policy is his speech on gun control in which he said that we can improve the NICS system, better reporting by the states of prohibited persons, and better funding for health care.

Just another reason I'm working hard to keep that chickenhawk asshat Romney from becoming Pres.

[Meiko]

3. It's probably going to contain

mostly gangbangers and their guns. My question is when are we going to start stepping on these guys like roaches instead of counting their guns....

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. The WaPo failed to point out that the vast majority of those required to register are African Am.

Normally they oppose such things

[petronius]

10. It sounds like what they're describing is parole,

but softening it by omitting searches and drug tests.

It really is difficult to see how these policies would discourage illegal gun use, but not for the reason that they suggest (NRA oppression! ). What useful info would actually be generated for front-line officers, and how would it be worth the time and expense of these visits? If this sort of extended parole is useful for violent criminals who use guns, why not apply it to all violent offenders? (Do they really have evidence that violent gun users are more likely to reoffend than violent users of other weapons?)

All I see here is a shallow and knee-jerk "Gunz Baad!" response to crime, with no thought to the expense or efficacy of the proposal...

[Glaug-Eldare]

11. Does anybody have the text of the bill?

I'm not going to take anybody's word on WaPo that it wouldn't put me on a registry if I was caught and convicted of going to Burger King before I went to the range.

[Jenoch]

12. The title of this thread and the headline in the Washington Post

are misleading. This is not a gun registry. It is a gun offender registry.