No-nonsense gun control in the US. It really does exist.

[Shamash]

68. I seem to be missing your point

If the murder rate in the US by non-gun means is higher than in say Europe (and it is), then removing every gun from private possession would still leave us with a higher murder rate than Europe.

So I fail to see how the problem is more about guns than it is about people being willing to kill each other. Personally, I see no appeal in taking a position that is for all practical purposes "We're okay with murder, we just want you to have to put some effort into it.”

So, if we're going to talk about gun control, do you have any proposals that do not penalize the >99.9% of gun owners who are not a problem in hopes of doing something about the <.1% who are? "Stop & frisk" was not a very progressive idea, nor was Arizona's "papers please" law, so if you will pardon the pun, "shotgun" measures do not seem to be a progressive approach to gun violence or any other problem.

Since I have spent a lot of time grousing at your proposal, it is only fair I give you my stance so you can grouse about mine. For the short list, I am in favor of:

• improvement and increased enforcement of background check laws (if a felon walks into a gun store and tries to buy a gun...)
• training and knowing the laws relating to gun ownership and use as a permit requirement (driver's license analogy)
• national standards for permit requirements (if a driver's license lets you drive in any state...)
• incentives for safe/secure storage (decrease accidents)
• targeted enforcement of known offenders (see this and look at the results)

I admit that item number 2 does impose a time and financial cost on the purchase, so I am not completely blameless in the "assigning an additional cost" to the purchase problem, but if it is a one-time cost for a license, it is is not the more regressive "per gun" penalty.

It seems to me that all of these would be improvements that would save lives. And they are a lot more likely to be accepted by gun owners (i.e. voters).

And your point on Canada is worth noting. The lower murder rate (firearm and otherwise) is a cultural artifact. If you change the way people think and view each other as a society, you get the change you want automatically.