Cars and guns are both property. They are both mechanical devices. They both are commonly owned, and this ubiquity has consequences for the lives of owners and the people around them. We could jump here to the conclusion that the two things should be regulated in the same manner, but things are not so simple. My computer isn’t licensed, nor are my books. Nor are my television and my kitchen knives. I have fuel cans in my garage, and though there’s a sign at the local gas station that tells me I have to be a licensed driver to use the pumps, no one has ever checked me before I buy.
And unlike cars, books and guns are objects used to exercise rights enumerated for protection in the U.S. Constitution. Now a case can be made that we also have a right to cars, since the right to travel is understood in law even without explicit listing in the text, but we don’t need to read anything into the Bill of Rights with regard to guns.
Think back to the driving test you took way back when. Parallel parking stymies lots of people, but they get around that and receive a driver’s license anyway. Stop here, turn there while using your signal, follow the signs, and don’t forget your seat belt—this is not the level of testing that gun control advocates dream of.
