General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: do gun advocates ponder... nonviolence? [View all]Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)The vast, vast majority of gun owners are non-violent.
And I'm not sure I can explain this fully, but for those of us who have been paying attention to gun politics and gun legislation for decades, we see the same individuals over and over again (Senators Feinstein & Schumer, Representative McCarthy out of NY, Mayor Daly and now Mayor Bloomberg spring to mind) pushing the same things they did 15-20 years ago.
It doesn't matter that violent crime has been trending downward for almost 20 years. Just about every year we see "reasonable" & "common sense" legislation that would infringe about the rights of millions of Americans (some 80 million if you believe the numbers). The words "reasonable" & "common sense" have been used so often in conjunction with gun control legislation that is has become almost a code word or phrase for "we're about to try and screw you over again"
Semi-automatic handguns and rifles have been around for a 100 years and magazines holding more then 10 rounds have been around since at least WWI.
Enforce the existing laws against straw purchases (10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine), put people using guns in a crime in jail for a long time (Project Exile in VA), go after any felon that tries to buy a gun and is denied through a NICS background check and send them back to jail.