Letter to the editor: Mandatory reporting of lost, stolen guns unconstitutional

In her letter “We’ll all be safer when stolen guns must be reported” (Nov. 8, TribLIVE), Vivienne Selia highlights the importance of reining in the misuse of lost and stolen firearms.

What she fails to mention — and what gun control proponents frequently fail to mention in their calls for legislation requiring the reporting of lost and stolen firearms — is that such a requirement is unenforceable in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Haynes v. United States, 390 U.S. 85 (1968).

Haynes was a convicted felon who was charged with failing to register a firearm under the 1934 National Firearms Act. As a felon, it was illegal for him to own or possess any firearms. The Supreme Court held that since he could not legally own a firearm, compelling him to register any firearm he possessed was impermissible because it required him to incriminate himself in the crime of illegally possessing a firearm.

In short, mandatory reporting of lost and stolen firearms — to the extent it requires the reporter to admit to a crime — won’t pass constitutional muster.

Jonathan S. Goldstein

Hatfield