Thoughts on Firearms Reform

I’ve been thinking about this since Uvalde Shooting, and I’m interested to hear what this sub thinks.

Bill Burr floated the idea of a “firearms license.” I know this immediately sounds like more government involvement, which none of us really care for, but he also proposed expanding it to allow the purchase of Post-1986 automatic weapons, suppressors, SBRs/SBSs, etc.

In this country, you’re required to maintain license in order to operate a motor vehicle or pilot an aircraft. I don’t think very many people dispute the practical benefit of those licenses. My experience in the Marine Corps was that if you could not safely and competently handle a firearm to the satisfaction of the rifle range personnel, then you would not graduate from bootcamp.

Like a Motorcycle or Commercial endorsement on your driver’s license, such a license could be given separate endorsement for the current Class 3 weapons, post-1986 automatics, etc. The proposed license would not create a firearms registry, à la Australia. You can have a driver’s license without owning a vehicle, afterall.

Would this decrease mass shootings? I don’t know. But it would increase responsible gun ownership and help prevent basic safety mishaps. Increased public knowledge and understanding of firearms would help to silence the looney toons that automatically reach for the “ban all guns” option.

TL;DR: Require a firearms license to operate a firearm, but you can buy a belt-fed to shoot at beer cans in your backyard.

On a scale of “great idea” to Shall Not Be Infringed, what do we think?