I-594 similar to start of UK Firearms Control

 An important part of British gun control is to make it illegal for anyone to obtain a gun without government permission.  This did not happen all at once.  Airguns and shotguns were exempt under the system for almost 50 years.  The requirement in I-594 for government permission before a firearm may be acquired, is similar to the start of the British system.   The British system was made incrementally more and more restrictive over the years.   It has never been shown to be effective in reducing crime.

This summation of the UK gun control system was researched and written for the British Parliament about the year 2000.  In the UK system, the police have almost complete discretion.   That is not yet the case in most of the United States.  From publications.parliament.uk:

FIREARMS CONTROL IN THE UK—ESSENTIALS OF THE SYSTEM  73.  The basis of the system is the Firearm Certificate issued at the discretion of the police. Firearms and ammunition may not be purchased or acquired lawfully without the authority of a firearm certificate. Issue is dependent upon the police being satisfied that the applicant is a fit person to have possession of a firearm and that he has established a good reason for that possession in respect of each firearm he wishes to possess. The certificate lists each firearm possessed or authorised to be possessed, identified by calibre, type, maker’s name and serial number. Ammunition holdings are specified by calibre[109] and quantity; maxima are specified for quantities which may be possessed and purchased or acquired at any one time.

  74.  Transactions, identifying the transferor, his authority to possess the items transferred and the nature and date of the transaction are entered on the certificate by the transferor.

  75.  The firearm certificate, which today costs £56, remains valid for five years unless revoked; it is a personal document which identifies the holder by name, address and a photograph certified by a third party. Certificate renewal requires a process similar to that of application. Both application and renewal require the completion of an application form (upon which the applicant identifies two referees), followed by interview and checks upon the applicant by the police (which take into account the comments of the applicant’s referees)—which include one or more home visits when the applicant’s provisions for the safe keeping of firearms and ammunition will be reviewed. The police may revoke the authorities granted by a certificate at any time; appeal against such a decision by the police may be made to the Crown Court.

  76.  The administration of the control system is based in three stages. The purpose of the first is to determine whether one who wishes to own a firearm (at one time a right in common law, but now probably lapsed) should be denied on specified grounds;[110] the second stage establishes the parameters within which the certificate holder may exercise the authority granted him; the third is a matter of maintaining a record of transactions set by those parameters. 

Firearms registration in England and Wales was never about controlling crime, and it was never effective for that purpose.   The purpose, from the start, was to enable confiscation of the firearms when the government decided to do so.  It is worth noting that the English constitutional right to keep and bear arms is mentioned “at one time a right in common law, but now probably lapsed“.   That is clearly the direction that disarmists in the United States have in mind for the second amendment.

Gun Registration and Confiscation in England and Wales.

Definition of a disarmist

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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