Problems with Lost & Stolen Bill

Eric has a post up about this topic:

Why single out guns unless the intent is to stigmatize them? I think that a law criminalizing non-reporting requires more than merely reporting a loss or a theft; by its nature it imposes an affirmative duty to monitor and count your guns on a regular basis or be a criminal (in much the same way that a law criminalizing the non-reporting of silverware would require counting the silver). But because it does not spell that out, I think it’s unconstitutionally void for vagueness.

Read the whole thing.  I think it creates that obligation as well, because most of these bills use the standard “X period of time after the actor knew or should have known the firearms were missing.”

One thought on “Problems with Lost & Stolen Bill”

  1. This bill gets worse the more firearms you own. I admit that the first thing I do each day when I get home is to check that the house is secure but I don’t do a physical inventory each day. One time I went camping and noticed one of my guns (small handgun) was missing a week after I got back. After tearing the house and then my car apart, I found that it had fallen into a tiny space between the trunk floor and the rear fender.

    The gun was in a range bag but it apparently tipped over when I turned a corner and it fell out. I didn’t really notice because I had taken several guns with me on that camping trip.

    My only advice if this bill passes is to count your guns every day and then call your local police department each and every day to tell them that none of your guns were lost or stolen today. Then call your state reps and tell them the same thing.

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