you wouldnt have to ban all guns outright immediately.
You could phase in gun control over a number of years - introduce licenses, prohibit sale to sections of the populace, ban the sale of automatic weapons, draconian sentences for gun runners etc.
That said, long term policy making is not a strength of the American political system. Or the British one for that matter.
(, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 10:36, Reply)
Don't all those controls already exist?
At least in certain states.
You need a license
I'm pretty sure full automatic is illegal (though you can buy conversion kits)
And a quick google search for the penalty for smuggling guns is 20 years and $1million dollars.
(
Cerebus Sticky! Sticky! Stick! Stick!, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 10:44,
Reply)
in some states, yes, in others no.
Mandatory gun licences are certainly not country wide.
(, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 11:14, Reply)
but it's illegally owned guns that are the problem.
making them any more illegal isn't going to make them disappear.
(
Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 10:50,
Reply)
Trouble is, guns last for a very long time
they don't often need replacing.
All this would do would create a trade in illegal weapons where there currently doesn't need to be much, so make gangsters wealthier and gangs more violent, just like any kind of prohibition has over the years.
(, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 10:54, Reply)
so mass murderers never go on the rampage with legally held weapons?
(, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 11:08, Reply)
I don't have the statistics for that,
but I suspect gangland killings and armed robberies are by far the bigger problem.
(
Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 11:12,
Reply)
take this guy, for instance,
he's killed 15 people and it's got on the news and it's shocked everybody.
US-wide there are on average about 35 deaths by shooting a day.
(12,632 in 2007 according to Wikipedia)
EDIT: homicides only, not including accidents or suicide
(
Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 11:17,
Reply)
Assuming that most gangland killings and armed robberies are carried out with illegal weapons?
(, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 11:25, Reply)
see if you can find out
www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/163496.pdf
(
Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 11:30,
Reply)
I'm not entirely sure what your point is.
That it's easy to obtain a gun illegally in America?
Yes, I agree.
(, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 12:08, Reply)
my point is that probably most crime is committed with illegally acquired guns.
I can't prove it, but it seems likely to me. Why bother complying with the law to get a gun if you're only going to break the law with it anyway, and it's that easy?
Secondly, it doesn't really matter that much how the criminal gangs got the guns, if gun ownership were made totally illegal, they would still have the guns. Only law-abiding citizens would hand their guns in.
(
Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 12:12,
Reply)
my exhaustive scholarly research watching episodes of CSI bears this out
legally bought guns would be much easier to trace through ballistic examinaion, so only stupid criminals would buy one through normal channels.
Obviously this doesn't stop crimes of passion, but as I've commented elsewhere, I doubt the lack of a firearm would stop someone who really wants to kill someone.
(, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 12:48, Reply)
the law should really concentrate on solving the kind of problems that happen all the time,
not the occasional one-offs that get in the news.
(
Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 12:57,
Reply)