Fuck it! I'm sick of pro gun arguments and advocates.

[Straw Man]

125. Other ways.

Yes, there are many other ways to kill people: a hammer, a knife, a car, a bomb, etc. But almost anyone can go out and buy a gun and bullets and start shooting people–in many states, on the same day. A bomb would have to be built—using parts that are highly monitored by various federal agencies; using a car would take certain, specific conditions; and a hammer? A knife? Seriously? Comparing a high caliber, semi-automatic rifle to a hammer, or a even a knife for that matter, in terms of deadliness, is pretty damned absurd. Last time I checked we don’t send our soldiers into battle with knives and hammers.

How about a book of matches and a couple of gallons of gasoline? 87 dead for less than the cost of a movie ticket:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/dozens-die-fire-illegal-bonx-social-club-1990-article-1.2152091

You might want to start asking why so many Americans want to kill large numbers of random strangers. If we could solve that riddle, we wouldn't have to waste time trying in vain to ghoul-proof our society by taking the figurative pointy scissors away from everybody.

By the way, the preponderance of gun deaths take place the old-fashioned way, one or two at a time, the same way knife and hammer deaths do. Mass shootings are a very small slice of the statistical pie. And the "high caliber semi-automatic rifle" that people seem convinced is the source of all our woes accounts for fewer killings per year than do hands, fists, and feet, per the FBI's stats. But it does make a convenient bugaboo.

Finally, I don’t want to hear, as Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said at the last debate, that passing more gun laws won’t matter, because criminals won’t follow those laws anyway. That is the most idiotic thing anyone ever thought up. Of course criminals will break laws—that’s how we know they’re criminals. We have laws so we can penalize criminals for doing bad things.

I'm more than willing to indict Marco Rubio for idiocy, but your stated example is not part of that indictment. Gun control laws are clearly an attempt to make gun ownership more onerous for the law-abiding segments of society so as to social-engineer us toward the elusive goal of a gun-free society. I offer as evidence a few facts.

First, case-law has established that a convicted felon (in other words, a person legally barred from possessing a firearm) cannot be charged with failing to register a weapon in such jurisdictions where registration is the law; the requirement to register would violate his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. A person with no criminal record, however, could and would be charged for that same offense. Say what?

Second, gun charges are generally the first thing to be plea-bargained away for criminals facing multiple counts. I would say that this sends the wrong message. Wouldn't you?

Third, giving false statements on the Form 4473 when purchasing a firearm (like checking the "No" box when you actually are subject to a restraining order for domestic violence) is a felony and is easily verfiable by information in the federal database. Yet this is never prosecuted by the ATF, who apparently think it sufficient that the gun sale was denied. The felonious buyer rolls the dice and lies on the form, hoping that there's a glitch in the database. If there is, he gets his gun. If not, that's OK; he didn't get his gun, but he can walk away and try again tomorrow. Why have the penalty if it will never be invoked?

Are you starting to see a pattern here? Pass more laws, and the law-abiding will for the most part comply with them voluntarily: no large gain in public safety, since these aren't generally the people who cause problems in the first place. Criminals will, of course, ignore the laws, knowing that the consequences are few or none in the context of the overall pattern of their criminal behavior. Again, no net gain in public safety.

But maybe, just maybe, some law-abiding gun owners will get tired of jumping through the hoops and will stop buying guns. Or people with a vague interest will be deterred by the numerous obstacles. And then maybe after a few decades, or generations, or centuries, America will be a gun-free paradise -- except for the weapons that will still be in the hands of the cops, the criminal, and the paid protectors of the rich and powerful. Won't that be grand?

Cheers.