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In reply to the discussion: Hillary Clinton Speaks at Trayvon Martin Foundation, Calls Trump's Gun Policies 'Dangerous' [View all]benEzra
(12,148 posts)is that the same people pushing registration are simultaneously pushing bans and confiscation of the most popular civilian rifles, e.g. small-caliber semiautos like AR-15's, and bans/confiscation of over-10-round magazines. As long as gun control advocates are fighting to criminalize possession of various guns or magazines by the noncriminal and nonviolent, then registration will be seen as simply a means to that end.
A look at the legislative history of registration in the USA bears that out; pretty much the only thing gun registration of Title 1 guns has ever been used for in this country is eventual confiscation, such as NYC's registration and subsequent confiscation of "assault weapons" in the 1990s, California's post facto SKS confiscation and their recent moves toward over-10-round magazine confiscation, the litany of "assault weapon" and magazine confiscation bills introduced in Congress annually, the NY SAFE Act, etc. etc., so it's not a far-fetched concern. The gun control lobby has been fighting to take "assault weapons" and magazines from their lawful owners for over half my life, so providing them a list of who owns what in that context is certainly going to raise legitimate concerns.
FWIW, felons and others who can't legally possess guns are exempt from registration requirements, per the U.S. Supreme Court (Haynes v. U.S., 1968) under the Fifth Amendment. So the only people who can be prosecuted for failure to register a gun are people who aren't prohibited from possessing a gun.