Speaking for a moment in the policy mode rather than the law mode, it seems to me that registration, when combined with a duty to report theft or transfer, is a one time event.
Switching briefly back to the law mode, I would point out that many jurisdictions have laws creating a rebuttable presumption that the owner of a car was driving it at any particular point in time. This seems to me constitutionally sound under the Leary principles because the presumption is rebuttable and the presumed fact follows more likely than not from the proved fact---that is, if you were not driving your car and it has not been stolen, you either know who was driving it or you can find out (in the case of the kid off at college), so shifting the burden of proof to the person with knowledge of the matter seems reasonable. One time registration combined with a duty to report theft or transfer would make the same presumption possible for firearms. If the weapon was fired, there is a rebuttable presumption that the registered owner fired it. Problems? Steve Russell > ---------- > > The discussion has been about examples of fees for some event type action, e.g. > trials, campaigns, or parades. > > Registering a gun is less of an "action". For instance - is it registered for a day, > a month, year, or forever? Even a nominal daily fee would likely equal 100% the cost > of a gun over time. > > I'm sure the supporters of registration are (currently) thinking of annual > registration. But $10 (we should be so lucky) per year over 45 years is likely to be > more than most of my guns cost. And there is consensus that those who own guns > usually own several of them. > > While a modest one time fee doesn't seem too bad (even though it is covering cost of > record keeping that I don't even want -- not like an understandable "head up" that > city officials ought to get to prepare for a parade), do annual fees for a > constitutional right seem okay? > > --jcr > >
