What happens if Guns are banned?

[Red123H]

Hi, I am asking a straightforward question. Lets pretend that our next president were to place a ban on handguns, or all guns.

What exactly happens? What does it mean?

Does the government just take guns we already own from us? Do we get money based upon the retail value for them? Will there be a date that we must turn them in, before looking at criminal charges?

Or does it mean we simply can't buy anymore? Do we get to keep what we have?

I am confused as to what a ban on guns really means.

I hope someone can try to explain this straightforward without straying from the main question.

[fisherman66]

I don't have any guns. Do you have any guns?

[MrNiceGuy]

"i swear officer, they were all stolen LAST NIGHT!"

[Jager78]

What happens if all guns are banned?
Increase in home invasions, increase in muggings, increase in carjackings, increase in more violent crimes period, increase in deer populations resulting in more highway accidents. You get the picture.

The criminals will have a hayday and law bidding Americans will suffer.

[LightningJoe]

A President might conceivably ban guns with an executive order, but not likely. Congress would be the organ of government that would create a ban on guns.


Would they compensate you for your gun? I wouldn't think so, no. That would take billions of dollars. We've got hundreds of millions of guns. Even if they just banned handguns, to pay for them all would be like bailing out Wall Street*.


If they don't want your vote, why would they pay you for your gun?



*Yes yes. It's called hyperbole.

[teeroux]

I'm sure there will be those who will give em up, those who will hide em, and those few (but not enough) who will fight.

[heyduke]

It will be time for open revolution.

[JWT]

It will be similar to Prohibition with the Feds spending lot of time and money trying to enforce a law that would be immensly unpopular and perhaps almost impossible to 'police'.

[Tom2]

You might bury them all and wait for a better day, but I don't see that coming along in any place that they have banned them. And if they are all hidden under the wood pile, what do you use to protect your home? A samurai sword replica or a Louisville Slugger? Or a thousand dollar alarm system with a panic button to alert the police to come clean up the mess?

[K-Minus]

If they somehow managed to take my guns(Not without a fight)I would
just become a ninja and booby trap my yard.

[Waterengineer]

One of the beautiful things about government ins the USA is that it grinds slowly.

NO president, even if it the what's his name for Chi-town, will not be able to get a ban.

BUT, what we all need to be aware of is incrementalism - slowly but surely tearing away the fabric of the laws enacted to protect second amendment rights. i.e., laws and regulations that begin to limit the use or ownership of said arms for future gemerations and MAY, one day create the silliness that the UK and Austrailia ended up with.

It was apathy and contentment that allowed the gun crontro;s to grab hold in those countries.

I know someone will flame me for this view - but my point is that we need to be ever watching for the corroding thread of creeping incrementalism. Then our rights are protected. Also, we here in the good ol' USA have a different relationship and culture with guns than in any other union in the world.

One more time. An outright ban is not in the cards. It is the chipping away at the corners of our rights that we need to protect.

[MrNiceGuy]

when the guns are gone, people will either go back to using knives and arrows, or they'll move up to explosives.

people think taking away guns will take away violence. well wait till they try to outlaw anything pointy or flammable and murders resort to blunt objects and fists

murderers kill people, not guns.
eliminating guns will not eliminate murders, violence, or crime

[P99AS9]

I don't have any guns. Do you have any guns?

+1

If they somehow managed to take my guns(Not without a fight)I would
just become a ninja and booby trap my yard.

Hmmmm....quite an interesting decision

[avmech]

I lost mine in a boating accident......................

[Kreyzhorse]

Does the government just take guns we already own from us? Do we get money based upon the retail value for them? Will there be a date that we must turn them in, before looking at criminal charges?

Or does it mean we simply can't buy anymore? Do we get to keep what we have?

I'm not worried that an all out "ban" will happen. What I see currently is a slow ban on gun ownership. Ban assault weapons, ban semi-autos, ban military style sniper weapons (read that "deer rifles"), ban junk guns (pretty vague eh?), ban "cop killer" ammo, ban military ammo (30.06, .308, 45-75, .45acp, ect.) and whatever other ban targets I've missed. In addition to the bans, I see the access to ammo being made more difficult through serialization and tracking as well as the additional cost associated with it.

Kind of a two headed attack that would slowly eat away at gun rights instead of an over night ban.

[Bud Helms]

Red123H, welcome to TFL.

In answer to your question, no one knows. It's never happened here. It would depend on the specifics of the ban, wouldn't you think? More than one version of a ban is possible. But ... with all the millions of gun owners, it would be a mighty task to collect them all.

Even Australia has issued an amnesty for those who kept illegal weapons the first time around.

[Redneck_Riot]

To pass a Ban of Firearms, the Supreme court ruling that the 2nd Ammendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms would have to be overturned. the only way that this could happen is by a discovery based on new evidence. Then an Appeal could be filed to the Supreme Court and the ruling could then be revisited.

such and appeal IMHO is not likely, in order for the Supreme Court to accept it there must be something discovered that has not been included in the original precedings

the second Ammendment has been clarified as a individual right by a decision of 5-4 it passed by the narrowest of margins but nevertheless it is a victory in our corner and one of monumental importance.

The government will never outright confiscate firearms from its citizens, to do so the congress would have to overturn the 2nd ammendment with a 3/4 majority vote. I do not believe regardless of party that this is a possibilty in my lifetime.

But for a moment lets just say that door to door confiscation were approved, Whom would the government appoint to carry out this order?

I served in the ARMYfor 4 years as a RANGER none of my brothers would take up arms against their own citizens or families.

the police? most Law enforcement officers have prior military service backgrounds so I dismiss this as well.

Our government will never risk a civil war again there will always be guns in America, a outright ban on semi automatics that resemble or are the same weapons used by military and law enforcement will most likely be the next target and many Americans will not object to this especially urban Americans who are not educated and have not grown up around guns.

who uses an AR 15 style rifle for deer hunting? this is how our government will ban semi automatics.

[Bud Helms]

Thanks very much for the commentary, Ohio Rusty. You will notice your post has been deleted. That is because it contains partisan political content.

General Discussion is temporarily hosting political and legal topics until the new L&CR forum has been thoroughly tested. But no post using a candidate's or political party's name is permitted.

[HKCHEF]

This will never happen, don't waste your time being paranoid.

Follow the money trail, there is more money and jobs to be made off of allowing gun ownership.

[rogertc1]

But no post using a candidate's or political party's name is permitted.

[Silver Bullet]

First things first. Make sure you vote.

[rogertc1]

The majority in the House and Senate will probably be in control of any bans as will the elected president if in majority. Thus it is pretty hopeless.

But no post using a candidate's or political party's name is permitted.

[Swampghost]

It would work as well as Prohibition and "The War on Drugs".

I might have to give up recent purchases which are few and the rest that were inherited and old swap-meet deals would simply cease to exsist.

[tranks]

I lost mine in a boating accident......................

thats too bad.... funny thing happened to mine. they sprung legs and ran away. i chased after them but i couldn't catch up. last time i saw them, they were going north on Broadway. you should go look over there...

[stevelyn]

I'll adopt Mike Vanderboegh's answer to that question.