Couldn’t they make some kind of mandate that they have to sign a paper they are aware of gun laws when they buy a gun and give them a pamphlet with laws or something? Plaxico Burress said he did not know the gun laws? Why do so many people say this?
Ignornace is no excuse-according to the Law. It amazes me how many scary gun owners DO NOT WANT
information given to them about the laws with their gun purchase?Like it is a constitutional right to stay uninformed and ignorant!
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This is the same as asking "Why do poachers not know game laws?"
Why do people who don’t own guns thing they know it all?
Why do people who don’t own guns blame gun owners for things that criminals do?
Why do people who don’t own guns seem to think guns are "bad"?
Why do people who don’t own guns judge all gun owners by a few people’s actions?
There’s no way for anyone to know every gun law out there.
Added– so us gun owners here are "scary gun owners" now?
The only person who should fear me is a criminal. You have no reason to say I’m scary unless your planning on breaking into my house..
A lot of the people know them, but it’s sorta like speeding- " I didn’t know it was a 35 mph limit here officer" No one wants to say yeah, I knew it was illegal but decided to do it anyway. But on the other hand, the laws vary so much from state to state and city to city, county to county, no one knows all of them. Did you know some cities have a law against spitting on sidewalks? Can you name them? It’s hard to know and understand every law on the books.
Because our society protects an individual on most all counts. You’re allowed to be ignorant; however, ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law. People often feign ignorance when in trouble to try for a more lenient punishment. "I didn’t know I was speeding, officer"
If Plaxico has ears or has ever watched the news, he knows you can’t have a handgun in NY without a permit.. and you can’t have a permit in NYC without very special circumstances.
Well lets see,yesterday they were /////////////////////. Today?.
I like how you say "gun owners" which is very inclusive of EVERY gun owner when I am sure there are many of us who are familiar with the majority of gun laws that affect them…Of course who can remember 20,000 laws…
Many used to..I think most people get used to doing things a certain way and either forget or ignore the rest. In Mr. Burress’s case I think it was a case of he thought "nobody will ever know". He found out different. You can’t tell me he didn’t realize it. With all the press about guns in NYC, the cop shows and the like…he knew…Nice wake up call for him.
First of all, many of us do. Part of the problem in some states is that the gun laws keep changing. Many gun owners have owned their guns for a long time and don’t go searching constantly to see if there have been any changes to the law. Do you check constantly to see if any driving laws have changed in your area? Maybe in residential areas where the speed limit isn’t posted the speed limit is now 30mph, instead of the 35 it was when you first got your license.
Also, unlike cars, gun laws vary greatly from area to area. Now there are smart people and dumb people. Smart gun owners check the rules before they travel to certain areas. If I’m driving from Idaho to Wyoming, probably not a big deal. If I driving in the northeast, I better check. I live in MA, and this state has more stupid laws for guns than you can keep track of. Dumb people don’t check. Burress probably didn’t go to college on an academic scholarship. Don’t compare these athletes that get in trouble for packing heat to hunters. Also, remember that not all hunters are the same, so if you see a dumb one, don’t lump all of us together either.
Oh, Fi. I think you’ve fallen on your own sword, if you know what I mean.
Edit-Dan, it’s not that we don’t want information about gun laws, we are sick of having to obey laws that both restrict our freedom and do nothing to stop criminals from their violent behavior. And we are sick of liberals acting like everyone who owns a gun is a violent idiot that they need protection from. I live in MA, which has more laws with guns than most states. It took me several months to get the right to buy a simple .22 for target practice. In most states, you can buy this off the shelf at Walmart after a background check. I had to pay for a gun safety class (no quiz, could have slept through the whole thing). Then I had to buy an FID card. By the time I could take the class, make an appointment to apply for the FID, get the FID, it was months. And it did absolutely nothing to make me a safer gun owner. The guy next door who does drugs could have asked his dealer if he knew anyone who could get him a gun, and I bet he would have an illegal one in about a week. There are some common sense laws about guns, but most are a waste of time and do nothing to stop criminals, just people who obey the laws.
Take this for example. We do your pamphlet idea. Plaxico goes to buy the gun. Does he read it carefully, and then sign it, or does he just sign it and take the gun? Does he still bring it to the dance club and shoot himself in the leg? I say nothing changes. I say every other person who commits a similar crime says the same thing, pamphlets or not. People who want to know the basic laws will know them, and those who don’t care will ignore them like usual. The pamphlet idea will just kill a lot of trees.
First there are over 20,000 laws in this country relating to firearms.
can any person (other than CHL holders) describe 5 of them?
How about hunters, how many of them actually read the statutes every year?
I can name 3 LEO’s and 2 Game wardens that I have proven wrong by simply showing them the law. Now I am not an attorney, I just love reading gun laws and educating people about them.
I do not want the government to force more laws regarding a "pamphlet" on me or on you.
Here is your answer…Because we are not all lawyers. Why don’t non gun owners know that a societies laws and police won’t always protect them?
Do you really think Plaxico didn’t know that he couldn’t walk around with a gun in his pants? Get real. He just said that hoping for leniency from the court. He is a Hood plain and simple.
You didn’t have to come over here or anywhere and say ANYTHING about Plaxico Burress that doesn’t have to do anything with YOU OR HUNTING!!!!!!
I take it your THAT guy. Allow me to ask you a couple of questions. Can you tell me every law pertaining to anything? Let’s just pull one out of the air shall we. Do you have a pet? How do you obtain a license to start a zoo in your city? How can you own a pet and not know the laws about a zoo?
I’d point out that when you use Plaxico Burress as an example, you’re talking about a guy who stuffed an unholstered Glock in his pants. You can’t mandate good sense, whether it’s here or in any other part of life.
i know the laws, and no to that pamphlet thing, is it just for the state laws or the laws of every state, if it was for every state it would be a massive book that would equal art of war in size and would bring up the price of the gun
Why haven’t people such as yourselves figured out birth control? My rhetorical question is meant to compare with yours… Think about it this way, when you have a baby, do you always know the laws/regulations on raising that child? Sometimes the gun laws are a bit difficult to understand, but point in case, as long as you are not doing anything suspicious/outright illegal, gun owners won’t face prosecution because no-one IS looking (other than the BATFE, but pssshhh…). The reason so many people say that they "didn’t know the gun laws" is because they have done something that is irrefutably wrong, and they want to pin it on rules/regulation… and get away. Think before you ask, there are so many other things to be questioned other than our rights…
There are plenty of gun owners who know gun laws.. What are you talking about? I know my state laws, and I also have a LTCH. Just because one person says they don’t doesn’t mean we all don’t. And I agree people should, if they own firearms.
Plaxico Burress broke the most obvious common sense laws but not including him… Each locality has laws that are added to the litany of federal laws that exist. For example. If you travel to Chicago with a Conceal Gun Permit from Iowa, the laws of Chicago of transport and carry supersede that of Iowa. They have their own rules of what is considered safe transport and carry compared to your home state. You could be arrested for doing something that is legal in Iowa but is not legal in Chicago because Chicago has its own laws separate from the State of Illinois and separate from the State of Iowa. All very confusing. Same goes for a county within Iowa where when I lived in X county I could have a concealed carry license but when I moved to the next county over in the state the local sheriff did not reissue the license due to the laws he imposed in his county. Sound fair?… Think again before you generalize laws across gun owners.
Gun laws are nearly infinite. You can count 20,000 minimum and up to 80,000 if you are really looking for laws you can call gun laws.
Handguns are for sale in my state. People buy them and everyone who does breaks a law. The law prohibits concealed weapons on one hand and demands you take the gun from the store in a container. So you tell me, which one should we obey.
Legislators are simply crazy. If you mandate a book of laws go with each gun it will double the price of the gun because someone is going to have to pay for all that paper. Incidentally it would have to be updated, at the very least, twice a year in my state.
I used to try to keep up with all the contradictions. Then I moved back to my wife’s home state, bought a safe and locked my guns up. I haven’t used them for over 20 years out of sheer fear that I will break some law passed by some moronic block watch idiot.
In short, they win. If my guns come out it will be because it is a very bad day in America.
The same reason you shouldn’t have to take a test to know the legalities when purchasing gasoline, dry ice, knives, cough syrup, and powertools… It’d be bloddy annoying. Sure, somebody could break a technical law (and in some states like CA, it’s almost inevitable), but ultimatly, if there is no malicious intent, that’s all that will happen.
Personally, I find that firearm owners are usually some of the most law-informed folks ever. If you want to attack a group of people that needs to learn their freakin gun laws, talk to law enforcement officers.
I am offended that you placed Paxico in the same league as most gun owners.
Generalize much?
Have a nice day.
Dave
Probably because it is so hard to keep track of laws from so many jurisdictions that change so frequently.
We (cops) get briefed every year on changes to our state’s laws and even then most of my guys can’t keep track of them. There are just too many laws and each one can be "interpreted" (prostituted) in many different ways that its authors never intended.
Even the "experts" don’t always know. A question came up from a citizen recently about licensing for a particular activity in a firearms related business. I read the law and said that he didn’t need a state license because the law didn’t even mention the items he was selling.. Another officer insisted that he needed one but couldn’t show me where (in the statute book) that it said so. He couldn’t even show me where the items being sold were even mentioned in the statute.
So, we called the state agency that regulates it. They said I was right. A few days later they called back and said the other guy was right. When I asked about the statute they then called the attorney general’s office who told them that they didn’t know the answer and that the citizen should consult with his attorney. What that means is that he should do whatever his attorney says and if there is any problem the state will prosecute him for not obeying a law that nobody understands.
If the people who make the laws don’t know, and the people who enforce the laws don’t know, how can a layman know all the answers?
This, of course, ignores the fact that ALL gun control laws are unConstitutional and have no valid reason to exist.
Don’t forget that many prosecutions are "selective", based on who did it, not on what was done. Mr. Burress was prosecuted because he was a celebrity and the rabidly anti-gun mayor wanted as much media coverage for his gun hating anti-freedom campaign as he could get. As part of his efforts to eliminate "problem" gun dealers in other states who knowingly sell guns to street thugs, that same mayor hired private "investigators" to go to Virginia to buy guns with fake IDs or through straw purchases. They did so on several occaisions. Each and every gun purchased was a severe federal felony yet none of them were ever prosecuted. Why????
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Very few gun owners I am acquainted with are ignorant of gun laws. Most know them quite well, at least the laws concerning the guns which they own.
What is the basis of your question?
Plaxico Burress knew that what he did was illegal. That said, the New York gun control laws are based on the Tammany Hall/Crime Boss named "Big Tim" Sullivan’s laws which he got passed to help keep his criminal henchmen safer from the other crime bosses, and to keep the chosen victims, "…immigrants, Negroes, Italians and other undesirables…" from having the means to protect themselves from the extortion and strong-armed collection practice of Sullivan’s crime syndicate.
There is Only One (1) Real Gun Law its called the 2nd Amendment in our U.S. Constitution.* Any and all after that are illegal, invalid, unconstitutional, meaningless, useless, and worthless.* If it was good enough for our Forefathers; its good enough for me.* Exercise your 2nd Amendment Rights.* Refuse to be intimidated by any and all other so called Gun Laws instituted, created, legislated or passed after the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution.* .. " Only a Criminal, Tyrant, or a Tyrannical Government is Afraid of the Armed American Citizen."… Try Living Free in America Without Your Guns and Your Ammo; I Dare You."…" Free Men do not ask permission to Bear Arms at Anytime, Anyplace, from Anyone."…
First of all it is our right to have gun’s there should be no gun laws at all! Second gun laws are changing all the time the pamphlet you get this year will be no good next year. You can thank all the tree hugging democrats for that. Third may be you should put this question in a different form like vegetarians or vegans.
A person who lives in NJ and don’t know the laws? He had to obtain them illegally,. because a dealer probably wouldn’t sell to him without a permit. He is not a "gun owner", he is (was?)a football player.