[liberty556]

I think we are in agreement about the general principle. In fact, shortly after my wife and I were married almost 24 years ago I had to fill out a missing shotgun report with the police. My brother-in-law left it in the moving van when we were moving and it went back to the rental agency. I searched all their trucks, did not find it, and reported it immediately to the police. The good news is, the owner had it locked up in his office and I got it back the next day.

No, the problem with a law like this is that there is too much wiggle room for the authorities to criminalize an innocent gun owner for not following some obscure procedure. It is nothing more than a tool to creep a little closer to taking them away altogether. Let's look at my own example.

I noticed my shotgun missing later on the same night the truck was returned. The rental company did not want me to look at any of their trucks, and would not let me on their property until I threatened them with either me looking or me and the police looking. But suppose I hadn't done that, and just waited meekly until the next day, or until the next business day two days later to talk to the owner. Then suppose that the local cops had it in for gun owners. All of a sudden I am a criminal for not reporting the gun stolen, even if it turned out it wasn't. The only law that would have been broken would have been the reporting law, but that would be enough to make me a criminal and prevent me from owning a gun in the future.

That is why laws like this are bad laws. It looks good on the surface, and why would anyone be against "common sense" gun laws like this one? But it isn't common sense, and one does not have to look very far to see the unintended, or (much more sinister), intended consequences.


PennsyPlinker

Thanks for the real life example. I read in another post that the original HB29 stated the stolen gun must be reported within 24 hours. I see how a situation like yours, being out of your control, could be used against you. I better understand the issue now and will push against this bill. I guess the solution to the lost gun problem is for the government to consider the theft victim innocent of any wrong doing until it can be proven otherwise. If the gun owner sold his gun illegally and was only reporting it as stolen to cover up the crime, which the liberals are claiming is the source of the illegal guns, then the gun owner should get prosecuted. We already have this law on the books. However, discovering and proving this violation requires "real" effort from the government and the law abiding are much easier targets.