I only have a few points to bring up to the cesspool here, and I don't expect any one of them to make a damn bit of difference, thus please don't expect me to respond beyond this:
1) Mental health crisis is not a uniquely American problem - it's a human problem. Widespread civilian firearm ownership is uniquely American. So is widespread firearm fatality, whether by mass shootings, accidental death or injury, and suicide by firearm. The United States is far and away the leader in terms of developed nations in those groups... The United States is far and away the leader in civilian firearm ownership. That is not coincidental. Every single other country in the world has people in mental health crises. Only the United States has this high volume of firearm fatalities among civilians in the developed world.
Stop with the mental health red herring. That's a human problem; we need to solve a
uniquely American problem.
2) The concept of a "slippery slope" is a fallacy. A fallacy is an argument based on false logic. Passing sensible gun control reform (for example, no body armor for the general public, raising the age of gun ownership, longer lead time for background checks, magazine limits, etc.) does not mean "They're coming for all your guns next."
3) For those who say "laws won't work", there are developed countries who, in the last 20 years, have implemented strict gun control laws - not removing all firearms from the civilian populace, mind you - and every one of them has seen a dramatic decrease in firearm fatalities and mass shootings since implementation.
Further, US states with highest proportion of gun ownership generally have the least restrictive gun laws, but also have the highest rates of firearm fatalities per capita. That is logical.
You don't know if laws "won't work", there is no logical reason to say why they work in other places, but they wouldn't work in the United States. Any argument made to that end is fallacious.
4) We need to stop talking in absolutes.
- Gun control will not
stop mass shootings, even if we just somehow removed all guns from the people.
- No serious person is arguing that we need to take
all of your weapons.
We need to
reduce mass shootings as much as we practically can. We need to
limit access to weapons in such ways that we maximize opportunities to weed out people who should not have access to firearms.
In my opinion, there are plenty of ways to do that:
- Increase the age of firearm ownership to 21 (or older).
- Mandatory waiting period of 90 days to purchase a firearm in order to conduct extensive background checks, and also simply to allow for a pause. Emotionally charged situations can dissipate; maybe someone has more chance to intervene. If I (or any other law-abiding gun owner) want to go buy a gun, I can wait 90 days. Firearm purchases
should not be spur-of-the-moment decisions.
- Federally maintained "Do Not Sell" database that's easily accessible at points of sale, including to gun shows and private sellers. Hell, you could do this with an App on a smartphone. If you're a law-abiding citizen, you have nothing to worry about - you won't be in the database. If you're a felon, violent criminal, history of domestic violence or are treated for certain mental health issues, you're in there.
- Mandatory, periodic firearm safety training and competency testing for licensing. I'd love to see people have to pass a practical exam on their chosen firearm before being allowed to purchase ammunition. Show me you know how to use the weapon safely, and I'll let you take it home.
- Full responsibility of the gun owner for anything that happens with that firearm, including automatic criminal negligence and accessory charges for anyone whose registered firearm is used in a crime. Allow that chain of custody to be traced all the way back to point of sale in the event that a firearm is used or possessed by someone not legally allowed to have one, just like we do with cigarettes and alcohol. (I believe some states already do this).
If you are a law-abiding gun owner, you can have whatever weapon you want, but you are accountable for what happens with that weapon and accountable to society for demonstrating a modicum of expertise with said firearm before you can go home with it.
Finally, we can talk till we are blue in the face about whether or not gun control will work or not, and that the bad guys are going to get weapons if they want them.
Yep. I agree.
But you lock the doors of your cars and you lock your house even though the bad guys can g
et in if they want to.
If we do just enough to keep honest people honest, and delay or deter the others -
especially those who need help - I think we'll take a pretty big bite out of the gun fatality epidemic in this country.
Part of being a member of society is being willing to make sacrifices for a greater good. America
does not promise individual rights and freedoms at the expense of others - this is the crux of the Pro-Life argument. It's time to stop pretending like 2A means you can do whatever the **** you want with a gun in this country, everyone else be damned. That's not how America works in any other way. Guns should be no exception.