Are Concerns About a National Gun Registry Reasonable?

A bill to expand background checks for gun buyers is now on the way to the Senate floor where, despite original thinking on the issue, it is likely to be met with fierce opposition. The hang-up is the concern that these background checks could lead to a national gun registry making it fairly simple for the federal government to seize weapons from legal gun owners if need be. But proponents of the bill say the entire notion is absurd.

Critics of the law and possible registry can point to California, where California Justice Department agents can track down and disarm people with legally registered guns who have lost their ownership rights.  Bloomberg reports that almost 20,000 gun owners in the state are prohibited from possessing firearms, including convicted felons, those under a domestic violence restraining order or those deemed mentally unstable. California is the only state that tracks purchases and then uses that information to seize firearms from people who are no longer legally able to possess them. If the state determines that weapons need to be seized, all guns are taken from the home, whether they are registered to the person at fault or another co-habitant.

'Real News' Wednesday opened up discussing the bill in the Senate, and whether it is that unreasonable to track in order to seize gun from owners like those no longer deemed unfit in California.