Restricted Constitutional Rights

For years I’ve heard jokes about what the U.S. would be like if we restricted gun access like we do abortion access. What would that really look like?

Color photo of a chalkborad drawing shows the words “More regulated than” above an illustrated reproductive system, followed by “than” and an illustration of a 6-shooter revolver.

• Targeted Regulation of Ammunition Providers (TRAP) laws would mandate gun shops retroactively meet the building regulations for dental clinics.
• More than half of states would require two trips to the gun shop – one to state your intent and another to actually get a gun.
• You couldn’t bear a gun in the presence of anyone with a heart beat.
• Or anyone capable of feeling pain (a difficult thing to measure externally).ab
• Gun sellers would live in fear for their lives, wearing bullet proof vests, taking varied routes home to avoid stalking, and being called being called “baby killers” in the news.
• Gun shops would be routine victims of arson attacks, stink bombs, and broken windows.
• Escorts would need to protect customers as they walked in and out of gun shops, past protesters waving grotesque enlarged photos of alleged gun wounds.
• 97% of counties wouldn’t have a single gun seller.
• Even proponents of guns would use weasel words like “I support weapon choice.”

It’s nowhere close to a perfect analogy, but it’s interesting to think about all the same.