In many facets of life, we’re accustomed to screening people to make sure that they are trustworthy. For example, consider the hoops one must jump through in Mississippi to vote or adopt a dog:
How to vote
1. Have your Social Security number or driver’s license
2. Complete six-question voter registration form
3. Mail or hand deliver
4. Do this at least 30 days before Election Day
5. Go to polls
6. Produce a photo ID
7. Vote
How to adopt a dog
1. Fill out 64-question application
2. If renting, landlord is contacted
3. In-person meeting with entire family
4. Yard fencing and security assessed
5. Sleepover visit with pet
6. Pay $125 adoption fee
7. Adopt the dog
And now consider what someone in Mississippi must do to buy a firearm. For a private purchase from an individual, nothing is needed at all, except that the buyer not be obviously underage or drunk. For a purchase from a gun store, here’s what’s required:
How to buy a gun
1. Pass a 13-question background check
2. Buy a gun
I mean... he's lying
You have to have (and produce!) a state ID to buy a gun in Mississippi, so it's a lie to suggest you do not.
It's deceptive to say that 'Pay $125 adoption fee' (is that really the STATEWIDE no-exceptions fee throughout MS?) is a 'complicating step' but 'Pay $XXX cost of gun' needs no mention.
Or 'Go to polls' but not 'Go to gun store'
Or 'Mail or hand deliver' voter registration form but not same for background check form?
'Have driver's license' and 'produce photo ID' are two steps for voting, but zero steps for buying a gun, even though both require 'both' steps.
'Vote' is a step for voters but 'buy gun' is not a step for gun buyers.
He could make a more honest comparison if he compared voting to buying a gun from a private seller, but then he would have to throw out his stupid 'adopt a dog' comparison because getting a dog from a private seller is often as easy as "I saw a lady with a box of puppies at a gas station and asked her if I could have the one with 2 white socks"
I am going to add that my two guns were acquired as follows:
My long gun is a sort of starter gun that was given to me as a gift by my father when I was 14-ish. He held it and only allowed me to use it for hunting or target shooting with him until I was 18.
My pistol was given to me as a gift by my mother-in-law a few years ago when we moved her out of her house and into an apartment and she handed me a heavy manila envelope with the pistol and a story about how she hadn't had any ammunition for it since her divorce 3 decades earlier. (The divorce lawyer took it away from her, she says) Lots of guns pass from family member to family member this way without the state knowing anything about it, really. I'm not sure how much this varies state-to-state.
I don't really have a desire to own or shoot guns, having never fired the pistol at all and not having fired my long gun in over 15 years. I have fired other guns - mostly with my siblings who love shooting and inherited my father's gun collection, as well as collecting their own.
