But as for this topic, a federal gun license, strikes me as a bad idea on multiple levels. One, I don't think the federal government is really competent to manage such a thing across 330 million people, most of whom don't want to be managed. Health care is one thing, people want others involved in their health care. But guns are private. Two, I think it's best if states and even cities and counties are free to decide what gun regulations work best for them.

The system of background checks we already have seems to work well. That's not an opt-in license to own a weapon, it's just a list of people who shouldn't own them. And everyone not on the list isn't affected. That seems much better to me.

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