No, it’s because they regulate the hell out of all firearms in the country. Those automatic weapons have to be locked up and sealed tight, and if you take them out without a good reason (in Switzerland this boils down to the country being invaded) you’re in big trouble. That’s because the weapons are meant for use there by a Second-Amendment-style militia, and drilling and training (or “regulation” as we called it here in olden times) is mandatory. Still ready to sign up?
The NRA is an avowedly right-wing and highly partisan organisation whose primary mission since the 1980s has been lobbying on behalf of the firearms industry. The free/low-cost (and membership-roll inflating) education is helpful but that sort of thing hasn’t been their main concern since their internal coup in 1977 (fun fact: one of the guys who took over was also a murderer).
More people taking those NRA courses, for one thing. Also, not giving a discount on insurance premiums due to not fulfilling a requirement is not a tax.
They’ll only waste time coming for my Gigaflopping CPU if they’ve identified at as running a botnet, and then only if the botnet threatens critical infrastructure. That’s called standard a criminal investigation.
But that’s beside the point. I’m not proposing taking anyone’s firearms, I’m talking about requiring insurance to own them. If my particular type and power of CPU was involved in botnet crimes that killed and injured thousands of people every year, I wouldn’t mind required insurance tacked onto it.
Enlighten me. For starters, tell me why someone living in a suburban tract home in a middle-class neighbourhood would need an AR-15 for household self-defense. That one remains a puzzle for me, not to mention for the Iraq veterans and cops I know.
No. I suggested in a subsequent comment that I should use it pre-emptively in the future, as it’s always the same lame objection from Second Amendment fundies, most of whom spend the rest of their time not caring a whit about social and economic justice.
