General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Connecticut has very likely created tens of thousands of newly minted criminals; 20-100k at least [View all]Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)The purpose of law enforcement and its methods is not to prevent crime, but to capture and charge the people who commit the crimes. That is, it's more "pound of cure" than "ounce of prevention," and frankly it has to be in order to function (else you get pretty dystopian results, as we've been seeing in the "War on Terror" in recent years.)
Gun registration doesn't prevent criminal use of guns. It does however make the guns used in crime easier to track, which makes it easier to apprehend the people behind the crime - or at least get a lead on who the gun might have been stolen from (since I know, Nugentian logic holds that all guns used in any crime are all stolen.)
That fact might cause someone to reconsider using their weapon in a criminal manner, but that's more of a side benefit, not the core purpose.