While this is an opinion piece, it has merits in that if followed by politicians, it would effectively negate the 2nd Amendment. Be sure to check out the comments. Daily Kos: How to Ban Guns: A step by step, long term process Fri Dec 21, 2012 at 03:20 AM PST How to Ban Guns: A step by step, long term process It's nice that we're finally talking about gun control. It's very sad that it took such a terrible tragedy to talk about it, but I'm glad the conversation is happening. I hear a lot about assault weapon and large magazine bans, and whilst I'm supportive of that, it won't solve the problem. The vast majority of firearm deaths occur with handguns. Only about 5% of people killed by guns are killed by guns which would be banned in any foreseeable AWB. Furthermore, there seems to be no talk about high powered rifles. What gun nuts don't want you to know is many target and hunting rifles are chambered in the same round (.223/5.56mm) that Lanza's assault weapon was. Even more guns are chambered for more powerful rounds, like the .30-06 or (my personal "favorite") 7.62x54R. Even a .22, the smallest round manufactured on a large scale, can kill easily. In fact, some say the .22 kills more people than any other round out there. Again, I like that we're talking about assault weapons, machine guns, and high capacity clips. But it only takes one bullet out of one gun to kill a person. Remember the beltway sniper back in 2002? The one who killed a dozen odd people? Even though he used a bushmaster assault rifle, he only fired one round at a time before moving. He could have used literally any rifle sold in the US for his attacks. The only way we can truly be safe and prevent further gun violence is to ban civilian ownership of all guns. That means everything. No pistols, no revolvers, no semiautomatic or automatic rifles. No bolt action. No breaking actions or falling blocks. Nothing. This is the only thing that we can possibly do to keep our children safe from both mass murder and common street violence. Unfortunately, right now we can't. The political will is there, but the institutions are not. Honestly, this is a good thing. If we passed a law tomorrow banning all firearms, we would have massive noncompliance. What we need to do is establish the regulatory and informational institutions first. This is how we do it: The very first thing we need is national registry. We need to know where the guns are, and who has them. Canada has a national firearms registry. We need to copy their model. We need a law demanding all firearms be registered to a national database. We need to know who has them and where they are. We need to make this as easy as possible for gun owners. The federal government provides the money and technical expertise, and the State police carry it out. Like a funded mandate. Most firearms already have a serial number on them, so it would really be a matter of taking the information already on the ATF form 4473 and putting it in a national database. I think about 6 months should be enough time. Along with this, make private sales illegal. When a firearm is transferred, make it law that the registration must be updated. Again, make it super easy to do. Perhaps over, the internet. Dealers can log in by their FFLs and update the registration. Additionally, new guns are to be registered by the manufacturer. The object here is to create a clear paper trail from factory to distributor to dealer to owner. We want to encourage as much voluntary compliance as possible. Now we get down to it. The registration period has passed. Now we have criminals without registered guns running around. Probably kooky types that "lost" them on a boat or something. So remember those ATF form 4473s? Those record every firearm sale, going back twenty years. And those have to be surrendered to the ATF on demand. So, we get those logbooks, and cross reference the names and addresses with the new national registry. Since most NRA types own two or (many) more guns, we can get an idea of who properly registered their guns and who didn't. For example, if we have a guy who purchased 6 guns over the course of 10 years, but only registered two of them, that raises a red flag. Now, maybe he sold them or they got lost or something. But it gives us a good target for investigation. A nice visit by the ATF or state police to find out if he really does still have those guns would be certainly warranted. It's certainly not perfect. People may have gotten guns from parents or family, and not registered them. Perfect is the enemy of pretty darn good, as they say. This exercise isn't so much to track down every gun ever sold; the main idea would be to profile and investigate people that may not have registered their guns. As an example, I'm not so concerned with the guy who bought that bolt action Mauser a decade ago and doesn't have anything registered to his name. It's a pretty good possibility that he sold it, gave it away, or got rid of it somehow. And even if he didn't, that guy is not who I'm concerned with. I'm concerned that other guy who bought a half dozen assault weapons, registered two hunting rifles, and belongs to the NRA/GOA. He's the guy who warrants a raid. So registration is the first step. Now that the vast majority are registered, we can do what we will. One good first step would be to close the registry to new registrations. This would, in effect, prevent new guns from being made or imported. This would put the murder machine corporations out of business for good, and cut the money supply to the NRA/GOA. As money dries up, the political capital needed for new controls will be greatly reduced. There are a few other things I would suggest. I would suggest an immediate, national ban on concealed carry. A ban on internet sales of guns and ammunition is a no brainer. Microstamping would also be a very good thing. Even if the only thing it does is drive up costs, it could still lead to crimes being solved. I'm willing to try every advantage we can get. A national Firearms Owner Identification Card might be good, but I'm not sure if it's necessary if we have a national database. We should also insist on comprehensive insurance and mandatory gun safes, subject to random, spot checks by local and federal law enforcement. We must make guns expensive and unpopular, just like cigarettes. A nationwide, antigun campaign paid for by a per gun yearly tax paid by owners, dealers, and manufacturers would work well in this regard. We should also segway into an anti-hunting campaign, like those in the UK. By making hunting expensive and unpopular, we can make the transition to a gun free society much less of a headache for us. I know this seems harsh, but this is the only way we can be truly safe. I don't want my kids being shot at by a deranged NRA member. I'm sure you don't either. So lets stop looking for short term solutions and start looking long term. Registration is the first step. Tell Pres. Obama and democrats in congress to demand mandatory, comprehensive gun registration. It's the only way we can ban guns with any effectiveness.
I wish the bleeding heart liberals would for once back up a statement with facts, Name one time a Registered NRA member has randomly shot and killed someone let alone a kid. In a sick way it gives me hope that when a collapse or civil war breaks out i know that these same liberals will be on the fast tract to death simply because of how they live and think.
I can well imagine an NRA member that has shot an intruder. That's OK with me, and hardly qualifies as "random". Those libs will be beating a path to the gun owner's house for protection, betcha.
Libtards never cease to amaze me with their superior stupidity. I'm not going to go into how he is wrong in so many points, we all know it (preaching to the choir). What this Tard does not understand is his brilliant plan will start the second American revolution!
Seriously, if they don't want guns. Just put up the yard sign stating so. Don't worry, I won't bring my nasty old double 20 to your house to protect you from the druggies. I PROMISE.
That was my whole point, aye. Case in point: San Diego Police Chief: We Can Disarm Americans Within a Generation Ya'll need to start pumping out some young'uns.
If and when they ban all guns; smuggling guns in from Mexico etc will become popular. Gun bans do not decrease gun crimes
My sister in law is a huge liberal, once she found out I own a shotgun she won't even let my brother bring my niece over to play with our kids. Yet she has said many times that if things ever get bad like around Katrina she would come running. No clue how they don't see their own hypocrisy. Also have no clue why my brother married her. igh.
All I have to say to him after having left that state, is f**k California. I hope they have a quake and fall into the ocean so we can start over with the west coast.
Working on it. Number six was born 19 Dec. I agree that educating the next generation is critical. I took my two oldest boys (9 and 6) to the range a few weeks ago to get a little time on their Ruger 10/22s. Each of them has an ammo can with cleaning gear and over 1000 rounds. They are pretty possessive and the oldest is getting to be a decent shot. I still can't ever figure out where the heck the 6-year-old is aiming. Still, they know the pride of ownership and are very clear on the intent behind the second amendment.
Not to sound harsh Harbin ,but she wouldn't be allowed in my house (If she was in my family) if things got bad. I've already had that talk with my family. My soon to be brother-in-law and sister think I'm nuts and only want me around when they need something. If they want to be that close minded they can reap what they sow.
What the author of that libtarded piece of literary trash fails to realize is that violent crime began eons before the gun was invented. He wants to be safe and his kids to be safe.... by outlawing ALL guns? Gosh, what a maroon. I truly wish these idiots would become the victims of a knife-wieding robber, or get a cosh upside the head from a ball bat...... maybe that would knock some sense into their thick skulls. IF the criminals' guns could possibly be taken - never happen - then all that happens is they use a different tool. The gun is not the problem, it can be the cure. Depends in whose hand it is gripped.
How to Finish Off the NRA This is exactly what the left wants: those pictures released. comments are interesting.....
