Charleston church shooting: Without gun control, racism will keep killing black people

[DanTex]

37. That's obviously not true. The rest of Europe, Canada, Australia, etc. also have tiny

amounts of gun violence compared to the US. None of them have gun laws as strict as England's. They do, of course, have much stronger gun laws than the US, but there's a lot of room in between.

One simple and quick solution would be to place handguns and semi-automatic rifles under the National Firearms Act, which currently governs automatic weapons and things like short-barrel shotguns. They are not banned, but they are registered and heavily regulated -- you have to tell the ATF and get written pre-approval every time you are transferring one, and the licensing and background check requirements are much more extensive than what the Brady Bill requires (photograph, fingerprints, etc.). In fact, when NFA was being passed in the 30s, handguns were possibly going to be part of it. Ultimately they didn't, a decision that probably cost something like a million lives and counting.

This gun, for example, was bought as a gift by a father to his 21-year old son. It is possible to buy an NFA gun for a 21-year old son as a present, but it is not easy. Both the buyer and the recipient would have to be approved, and it requires much more of a commitment than right now, where you just go to a store and come home with a gun and give it to your kid, as if you were buying him an iPad.

As far as the second amendment, that's only an issue as long as the supreme court remains right wing. Giving up on gun control because of Heller is equivalent to giving up on campaign finance reform because of Citizens United.