American Notes

Americans routinely register their cars, bikes and dogs, generally without a yelp of protest. So why not their semiautomatic assault rifles and handguns, which may not always be as lethal as their autos but are certainly more so than their 10-speeds and terriers? Because, argued the National Rifle Association in a suit to throw out a 1989 California law that, in effect, banned possession of unregistered assault guns, the U.S. Constitution guarantees every citizen an unrestricted right to bear arms. California gun owners seem to agree. As a year-end deadline passed, only 18,000 of perhaps 200,000 such weapons had been registered.

California outlawed the purchase of semiautomatic guns as of Jan. 1, 1990, but those acquired before June 1989 could be kept if they were registered. The law seemed a big defeat for the NRA, as did a subsequent ruling by Federal Judge Edward Dean Price in Fresno. Dismissing the NRA challenge, Price ruled that the Constitution permits each state to impose its own restrictions on gun ownership. However, even though police may now seize the unregistered guns and charge their owners with a felony carrying up to a year in prison, the NRA may still win a victory by default unless the law is vigorously enforced.