Gun violence turns GD into a really sick place.

[krispos42]

69. And all the things you discussed in your first paragraph...

...have been exhaustively debated. Are you upset that they were debated? Or just upset that your tenet of faith keeps getting torn down each time you leave the echo chamber?

And you really don't ask for alternatives, in case you didn't notice. They have been proposed, but whenever you make a list of things you want to see done, it's ALWAYS the same list of debunked or ineffective crap, and never anything else proposed.


Here's a partial list of stuff that just falls down the memory hole:

"Assault weapons" ban. Stop trying to twist yourselves into knots defining what an "assault weapon" is. Just say "we need to ban semi-automatic rifles and shotguns". California has over a hundred thousand words in their gun laws, and they're STILL not really sure what an assault weapon is and how the laws are enforced.

Just say "ban semi-automatic rifles and shotguns". That gets the tactical ones and the sporting ones all in one shot. No more AR-15s, period. No more AK-47s, period. Just say "the volume of fire from these guns is unacceptable; we will limit people to manual-action guns".

I don't know if it will work; I imagine you'll start seeing lever-action guns with detachable magazines within a couple of years. But, it's far more effective and simpler than that stupid, arbitrary, and ineffective ban from the Ace of Base era. There's no confusion, and your argument is not lost in quibbling over what "is" is.



Magazine capacity: either do a comprehensive study of how many rounds are needed for an average self-defense situation shooting, and then limit the magazine capacity to 2 or 3 times that number, or else impose a length limit on magazine. Say that a magazine can't protrude more than 1 inch from the butt of a handgun. Or that a magazine has to fit flush with the butt. Or that the bottom of the magazine spring has to fit flush with the butt.

Probably the best thing would be to say that a magazine for a gun can't be longer than the lesser of a) X inches from top of the first round to the bottom of the last round, or b) the bottom of the magazine spring cannot protrude past the factory grip.

Or simply outlaw detachable magazines. I doubt that would work (witness the magnetic "bullet button" in California to get around their assault-weapon ban) but it would in theory limit people to revolvers and fixed-magazine rifles and shotguns.


There's nothing wrong with stringent requirements for CCW permits. There is a problem with overly-burdensome fees, overly-burdensome wait times, and arbitrary issuance of permits. And there is a problem with states that won't recognize any permit but their own. But this is a state issue, not a federal one.

I used to have a South Dakota CCW permit, and frankly I though the permitting process was too lax.


Microstamping. Won't work. Requires registration (which criminals won't do) and the firing pin markings are too easy to alter, or they simply wear away.

Ballistic fingerprinting. Won't work. Requires registration (which criminals won't do) and the barrel wears naturally over time. Also, you can just change the barrel. I also read an interesting article in a gun magazine last month about "fire polishing", where soft-lead bullets coated in Crisco and fine grit is used to polish the barrel of a gun to increase accuracy. Well, fire a coupe of those through the gun and the ballistic fingerprint goes down the shitter.

Barcoded bullets. Won't work. Too expensive, impossible for the buyer to confirm that the markings on the box conform to the markings on the bullets/cases. Also, requires ammunition registration.


But the question is... why don't these points ever surface in your arguments? Your assault-weapon ban centerpiece was a proven failure, for exquisitely demonstrated reasons, yet you keep bringing it up fresh. You don't get it?

It. Didn't. Work. It was too arbitrary and targeted weapons rarely used in crime. In order to accomplish your stated goals, you need to ban all semi-automatics. Period, no exceptions. SO DO IT.

Drop the milquetoast, tired, problem-riddled AWB and be firm. YOU WANT TO BAN SEMI-AUTOS.

AR-15s.
AK-47s.
M-1 Carbines
M-1 Garands.
Beretta Storms.
Ruger 10/22s.
Marlin Model 60s.
SKSs.
Remington 7400s
Ruger Mini-14s.

All off the market. Don't squirm and say that a Garand is okay but an AR-15 isn't, because it's wrong. If Sideshow Bob had used a Garand instead of an AR-15, there would have been fewer wounded but more dead, as the Garand shoots a far larger and more powerful cartridge. AND it wouldn't have jammed!


So bite the bullet, come out of the closet, and say that you think, as a result of the recent mass shootings, that we need to ban the sales of semi-automatic long guns permanently.

Just do it. Stop pussyfooting around and do it. Make it easy for your gun-control allies to understand what you want and rally to your side. Make it easy for Average Joe to understand what you want to do.