This isn't going to be popular on this board but I can't keep it in. The recent shootings at a mall I frequent and an elementary school in CT have brought me to a personal tipping point. I've had it, it's time for serious gun control measures in this country. It's also time to reign in this ridiculous gun culture so many have been fostering. We've tried it the NRAs way and the price for that is simply too high.
I personally own and like guns. I enjoy shooting. I think people have a fundamental right to own guns but nearly everything the NRA has fought for in the last decade is completely nuts. It would be much more effective in the long run as conservation organization and not as an advocacy organization. The pendulum is going to swing back hard and they have brought this upon themselves.
I'm not really interested in hearing the same old tropes. Guns don't kill people. Criminals will get guns anyway. We shouldn't talk about this in the wake of a tragedy. More guns would have prevented the tragedy. We should just enforce the laws we have. Fvck all that. It is time for a sane path forward. Measures won't have the immediate effect of stopping this but that is not an excuse not to do it. It is going to take at least a generation to reverse this situation.
So what would I do? I am not really sure. I don't really come to this as some kind of gun control activist. It seems the following would be a reasonable start.
Background checks for all guns
Assault weapons ban
Ban on large clips and things that facilitate mass murder
Ban on types of bullets that are primarily designed to kill people
Secure storage laws
Repeal laws that allow people to carry in bars, schools etc.
Possible registration laws
Gun ownership can remain a right but it doesn't have to be an unlimited right. There needs to be an appropriate amount of respect and responsibility to go along with ownership.
I personally own and like guns. I enjoy shooting. I think people have a fundamental right to own guns but nearly everything the NRA has fought for in the last decade is completely nuts. It would be much more effective in the long run as conservation organization and not as an advocacy organization. The pendulum is going to swing back hard and they have brought this upon themselves.
I'm not really interested in hearing the same old tropes. Guns don't kill people. Criminals will get guns anyway. We shouldn't talk about this in the wake of a tragedy. More guns would have prevented the tragedy. We should just enforce the laws we have. Fvck all that. It is time for a sane path forward. Measures won't have the immediate effect of stopping this but that is not an excuse not to do it. It is going to take at least a generation to reverse this situation.
So what would I do? I am not really sure. I don't really come to this as some kind of gun control activist. It seems the following would be a reasonable start.
Background checks for all guns
Assault weapons ban
Ban on large clips and things that facilitate mass murder
Ban on types of bullets that are primarily designed to kill people
Secure storage laws
Repeal laws that allow people to carry in bars, schools etc.
Possible registration laws
Gun ownership can remain a right but it doesn't have to be an unlimited right. There needs to be an appropriate amount of respect and responsibility to go along with ownership.