The philosophical rationale should be clear; if you have to ask permission, it’s a privilege, not a right. Permission can be rescinded, and is always exercised at the sufferance of whoever is empowered to say “yes” or “no.” A license to speak your mind granted in place of First Amendment protections, or an annual fee to keep the cops from tossing your house as a substitute for Fourth Amendment restrictions on search and seizure, might give you a little breathing room, but each breath would be drawn in the shadow of fears about lost paperwork or pissed-off officials. Owning and carrying the means to defend yourself is no different, with the rights embodied in the Second Amendment at odds with any requirement that their exercise requires a stack of forms filled out and filed.
J.D. Tuccille
May 2, 2017
Carry a Gun—Without a Permit
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
“an annual fee to keep the cops from tossing your house as a substitute for Fourth Amendment restrictions on search and seizure” sounds an awful lot like paying taxes…
Or as it was described in Neil Smith’s first novel, “The Probability Broach”:
Q: How on God’s green Earth does having my name on a list somewhere prevent me from misusing a firearm at a later date?
A: It does not.
Q: So, what is the purpose of registration?
A: Confiscation.