Pinaciphobia

I am not generally a big fan of Bloomberg News' editorials, but today there's a good one about keeping lists of gun owners.

Pinaciphobia is the fear of lists.

The NRA’s fear is ahistorical as well as irrational. American history is filled with gun regulations, including government surveys of gun ownership. During the Revolutionary era, writes UCLA constitutional law professor Adam Winkler, the founders not only required able men to arm themselves for military service, but also inspected their guns and listed the firearms on public rolls. New Hampshire and Rhode Island conducted door-to-door surveys of gun ownership.
Later, as the nation expanded westward, frontier towns required newcomers to turn in their guns to the sheriff in exchange for a token, the way a “restaurant today handles overcoats in winter,” Winkler writes. In other words, the authorities not only knew who had a gun -- they safeguarded it.