General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm all for a total ban on semi-automatic guns [View all]Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)But if you're going to have a discussion about guns and safety, we have to be clear about what we're talking about. Machine gun several orders of magnitude more dangerous than a semi-automatic (even though they look like basically the same firearm), and that's why they've been very strictly regulated since the 1930's and only the most hard-care gun rights advocate thinks they should be loosely regulated.
Under the right circumstances and with the appropriate controls, I don't have any problem with somebody owning a semi-automatic (or a machine gun, for that matter), but we can't just let these things be floating around in our society where any lunatic can buy one. I'm not a big fan of banning guns in part because banning alcohol and drugs didn't work out so very well for us. I'd rather not give organized crime a new product line.
I think we CAN ban high-capacity magazines, have complete licensing and regulations for ALL types of firearms, and require background checks on purchases of both firearms and ammunition. If that doesn't work, then I'm still open to firearms bans, but I'd like to see if something less-draconian (and frankly easier to pass and to enforce) can't work first.