Source: http://www.ashevilletribune.com/fingerprinting.htm [I've snipped/commented below. -- Anon.] Gun owners face mandatory fingerprinting, photos, testing By Matthew Mittan Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein has introduced a bill that would require that all legal gun owners in America be licensed, fingerprinted, tested, photographed and forced to sign safety contracts with the federal government. [I've always wanted to become an illegal gun owner...Aren't contracts signed under duress non-binding?] "When you want to hunt, you get a hunting license; when you want to drive, you get a driver's license," Feinstein said. But, "when it comes to guns and gun owners, there's no license and no registration. ... The time has come to treat gun owners no differently than anyone who seeks to drive a car." Accompanying Feinstein at her Capitol Hill news conference were other gun-owner-control advocates. ["When it comes to burning the Constitution and fucking the country up the ass, there's no license and no registration. ... The time has come to treat politicians no differently than anyone who seeks to drive a car." What kind of idiot logic is this? ObCrypto: "When it comes to encryption and computer owners, there's no license and no registration ... The time has come to treat cypherpunks no differently than anyone who seeks to drive a car."] Under the new law, if it is passed, all law abiding American citizens who wish to purchase a new firearm would have to pass a federal firearms use test, submit to fingerprinting and photographing by the federal government, pass Justice Department and State background checks, provide information as to date and place of birth and their current residential address, sign contracts to "keep the guns away from children" and pay a [I can't bloody well keep guns away from children if I'm teaching them how to shoot, now can I? How very clever of Ms. Sweinstein.] $25 license fee. Licenses would need to be renewed every five years, and would be revoked at any time if the gun owner ever became disqualified under any new or old federal law regarding gun possession. ["We don't want your guns. We just want to make sure they're not in the hands of chiiiiildren. If you don't have anything to hide, you won't mind being subjected to a cavity search each year. You won't mind if we set up video cameras in your house and put a radio transmitter in your ear. It's for the good of the country! Baaa!"] Current gun owners would have 10 years to become federally licensed or face consequences, possibly from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the agency responsible for the debacle at Waco, TX where dozens of men, women and children died and also for the incident at Ruby Ridge. New gun purchases would be effected immediately. The legislation, called The Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act, is the latest and most aggressive gun-owner-control measure to be authored by Feinstein, who in 1994 won passage of a ban on numerous manufactured gun features. In the Republican-controlled Congress, where centrist and rural Democrats share a skepticism about imposing too many additional gun restrictions, its short-term fate can be judged by examining other gun legislation. [snip] Under the 1934 National Firearms Act, the government already registers owners of machine guns, silencers, sawed-off shotguns and certain other firearms that lawmakers once deemed as gangster-friendly. Feinstein's is not the first effort to require widespread documenting and list compiling of gun owners. New York City started requiring the registration of rifle and shotgun owners in 1967. Then in 1991, the city banned certain shotguns and rifles that had always been legal, and notified the effected 2,340 licensed citizens that they had to surrender or render inoperable their guns to government authorities. The Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act, is cosponsored by Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Charles Schumer [Oh goodie...from the same man who brought us the "spank your child, lose your 2nd Amendment Rights" Lautenberg Act.] (D-N.Y.). Rep. Marty Meehan, (D-Mass) is introducing the same bill in the House of Representatives. Supporters of the new legislation include Donna Dees-Thomases, founder of the "Million Mom March"; Charles Ramsey, Washington, District of Columbia Chief of Police; and Michael Barnes, President of Handgun Control, Inc..
