Got it. I think all sensible people want to draw the line somewhere, and a debate about where that line should be is healthy. The problem, IMHO, is that the firearm industrial complex has faced no real opposition in decades, but needs to keep scaring customers into buying more of their products. So the line has been pushed far beyond sanity and now there is a fight to bring it back to reality.
This is my rifle, this is my gun!
Again, soldiers have one rifle issued to them that they have to put away in a lock up unless it is needed for training or combat, while they face severe punishment for losing it. The rest of the time, they are walking around unarmed. I imagine that most gated communities have more unrestrained guns per capita than any military base. Lots more.
The general public must not understand this because there was widespread consternation that a fuckhead with a pistol could go on a shooting spree on a military base without being taken out by the first person he bumped into.
And one segment of the public worships a guy who wanted to use the military against them in order to maintain power - which is exactly why the founders had a distrust of the military.
Phase 2: Mandatory licensing and registration which entails training.
aside: I am a hunter/rancher and collector (family heirlooms), I have about 30 guns, zero of which are the military-style ones, just rifles and shotguns
Iād be happy to take the firing pins out of all but the 7 I use.
Phase 3: some people need the type of rifle that nobody else should own. (esp for pig control, ā4 shots and reloadā just doesnāt cut it, we shoot them out of helicopters and etc). They should have to get a FFL (federal firearm license) to have one.
Phase 4: again, no handguns
Youāll never do the āban all gunsā, it will just never, never happen in the USA.
I would think you might value a handgun in rattlesnake country. Iāve got a couple of pistols (both I got when my mom and dad moved into an assisted living facility), a .22 and a .357, as of yet, I havenāt fired either of them. I hope I never have to fire that .357. Also an antique double barrel shotgun that is well over 100 years and hasnāt been shot in 60, and a good bird hunting shotgun. Oh and a .22 rifle.
My mom got the .357 in the early 80s in case of a home invasion when they lived out isolated in the country and my dad traveled overnight frequently for his job. If she shot it today it would break her frail 88 year old wrist.
How about just starting with people who want something other than a single shot shotgun/rifle has to go thru the same classes that someone who wants a CDL.
And renew it just like have to with my drivers license.
The public is like 60/40 on the side of more stringent gun laws. But the NRA has paid off so many people, the will of the $ outweighs the will of the people, as usual.
Iād start with banning all handguns, but thatās just me, and I think Iāve said it about 3 times.
Yeahā¦59% of total gun deaths in the US are from handguns. This does not mean we shouldnāt regulate every thing else.
In 2020, the most recent year for which the FBI has published data, handguns were involved in 59% of the 13,620 U.S. gun murders and non-negligent manslaughters for which data is available. Rifles ā the category that includes guns sometimes referred to as āassault weaponsā ā were involved in 3% of firearm murders. Shotguns were involved in 1%. The remainder of gun homicides and non-negligent manslaughters (36%) involved other kinds of firearms or those classified as ātype not stated.ā
Itās important to note that the FBIās statistics do not capture the details on all gun murders in the U.S. each year. The FBIās data is based on information voluntarily submitted by police departments around the country, and not all agencies participate or provide complete information each year.
What do you propose that people do with their handguns if they were banned? Toss them in the garbage? Give them to the government? Deranged people will always find a way to borrow or steal a handgun. They really wonāt care if they are banned or not if they are mentally deranged enough to want to murder someone. They wonāt say āhandguns are banned, Iām not going to murder people since handguns are banned.ā
Guns are now the leading cause of death for under-18s. But if we did nothing - literally - after Sandy Hook, itās hard to see the country being moved by individual kid deaths.