VSSA says Arlington attempts to circumvent prohibition against registration with voluntary" form.

Virginia Shooting Sports Association urges Arlington, Virginia gun owners to "Just say no" to voluntary registration scheme.

Orange, VA (PRWEB) May 29, 2004 --- The Virginia Shooting Sports Association (VSSA), the state affiliate of the NRA, said today that Arlington County is creating a registry of gun owners by misleading them to believe the information will be used as a tool to recover stolen firearms. The Virginia Legislature recently passed a law (HB484) requiring localities to destroy gun purchase permits by July 31st of this year. The bill repeals local purchase and registration schemes, but that hasnt stopped Arlington County from trying to register guns and gun owners.

Its deceptive at best. They imply that an effort will be made to recover a stolen firearm" said Steve Canale, President of the Virginia Shooting Sports Association. In fact, there are no special efforts made anywhere to recover lost or stolen firearms," Canale added.

The Arlington Police Department web site contains a notice to its citizens, to voluntarily" register their guns. Though the website states that "The Commonwealth of Virginia does not require gun registration. Arlington County provides this service for its citizens in an effort to keep a record of the serial numbers of firearms. In case of theft or loss, we will have the information pertaining to individual firearms for reporting purposes."

If your gun is stolen and you report it to the police with the serial number its entered into the FBIs National Crime Information Center where its available to all police agencies nationwide. This registration scheme is totally unnecessary, its a ruse" Canale stated.

The information the Arlington County Police form gathers includes name, address, gender, race, home phone, work phone, email address, make of gun, model, serial number, type of gun, caliber and barrel length. Why all this information is needed wasnt stated.

Asked what he would do Canale concluded, Just say no."

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