It's rarely actually used to require convicted abusers to surrender their guns, but it could be.
A 1994 federal law named for Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old Minnesota boy who was abducted, requires convicted sex offenders to register with authorities.
Ohio is now requiring convicted arsonists to register annually with their local sheriff's department for at least 10 years after they're released from prison or sentenced, for those not imprisoned.
Attorney General Bob McDonnell said he would seek legislation to require convicted sex offenders there to register their online identities with the state to help MySpace and other Web sites frequented by teenagers more easily block access.
In his statement, Mr. Nigam also reiterated MySpace's support for state and federal laws that would require convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses and instant messenger accounts with authorities.
Mr. Maltese has been an aggressive champion in the Senate of tougher laws on sexual predators, including one passed this year that requires convicted sex offenders to register all their Internet screen names with state authorities.
During the 1990's, as law enforcement agencies recognized the value of the technique, states started passing laws requiring convicted felons and prison inmates to submit to DNA sampling.
Among other changes, it requires convicted gang members to register with the police, transfers the power to decide whether a youth is to be tried as an adult from a judge to a prosecutor, and allows courts to sentence youths convicted of murder to life in prison without parole.
New York's Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act, known as the e-STOP law, requires convicted sex offenders to tell the state which email addresses, login names, screen identities and other online aliases they use.
The legislation requires convicted domestic abusers to surrender all firearms, closing a loophole in previous legislation that required abusers to surrender only handguns.
But that gap narrows to a statistical dead heat when voters learn that Proposition 34 also requires convicted killers to work while in prison, directs their earnings to their victims and earmarks $100 million for police to solve murders and rapes.
