Gun lovers are just going to have to give up assault rifles.

[sir pball]

394. Do you want to stop mass shootings, or the quotidian gun violence?

I'm breaking in because, with civility and respect, I'm far more interested in reining in the 7,000+ handgun deaths a year before we worry about the 500 or so mass shooting deaths a year - in 2014 rifles of all kinds killed about 250 people while handguns killed about 14 times as many people.

I do understand that mass shootings are far, far more visible and emotionally challenging, but there is, at best, limited political capital for gun control in America - it might be possible to ban the sale of semiauto rifles (I don't think a buyback would be possible), but that would pretty much be the end of gun control for years. The way an AWB addon has poisoned other gun control bills in the last decade should evidence that. I favor a differently targeted, broader package that I also suspect would be much easier to pass with less blowback, and would have ten times the impact on American gun violence as even an immediate, fully effective, confiscatory ban of "assault weapons":

I believe in a nationwide, mandatory ownership license, with safety and responsibility training.
I believe in mandatory dealer transfers, where not only is a background check performed, but a record of the sale is made.
I believe in a "title", much like a car, where the duly legal owner of the firearm is documented, and it must be passed to the next owner, with record of transaction. Possessed by the owner, but severe penalties for not having it.
I believe in severe, mandatory, criminal charges for gun crime, including failure to secure your gun properly.
I believe in handgun registration.