More assault rifle fun

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3. While it is true that those who have mental issues ...

do occasionally cause a tragedy with their firearms which sometimes include "assault weapons" the overwhelming majority of such gun owners never cause any problems.

Remember that there are at least 80,000,000 firearm owners in our nation that own at least 300,000,000 firearms. A very small percentage of gun owners do misuse their firearms to cause tragedies and often these tragedies are caused by the abuse of alcohol or drugs or the individuals involved suffer from a serious mental problem.

My question to you is how do we reduce this problem? Do we ban firearms and confiscate them or do we impose draconian restrictions on such weapons? Take into account that often firearms are used to stop criminal attack and if honest citizens would turn in their firearms if required, criminals who by definition do not obey laws would not. The result of very strong gun control might be a result in an increase in crime.

Statistics show that while the sale of firearms including "assault weapons" has skyrocketed in recent years the violent crime rate has fallen dramatically. While this doesn't prove that more firearms results in less crime it does prove that more firearms does not equal more crime.

Obviously we need to prevent unnecessary tragedies caused by firearms. I propose improving the NICS background check and requiring states to turn in data on criminals and those adjudged as having severe mental issues on a more timely basis. I also would like to see this system required for ALL sales of firearms including ALL private sales.

But this alone will not solve the problem. Obviously in a nation with 300,000,000 firearms, firearm safety courses should be mandatory in high schools. We should also focus our attention on enforcing existing laws and imposing severe penalties for anyone caught straw purchasing or smuggling firearms. In my opinion such people should be charged as an accessory to any crime that was committed with the firearms they illegally purchased or smuggled.

Of course poverty often leads to crime. Our educational system is, in my opinion, a failure. We also need jobs that will provide a living wage. Outsourcing jobs to nations that pay peanuts for long hours hurts out nation and benefits the 1%.

What are your solutions? Are you thinking about a bunch of "feel good" laws that would do little or nothing to address the issue? Are you considering a total ban on firearms which in the current political environment is impossible or just a ban on assault weapons and the incremental approach to banning all firearms which would also be almost impossible to achieve at this time?

I seriously doubt that any headway will be achieved on reducing gun tragedies in the near future considering the divide between the two major political parties. Democrats didn't really make any real headway on this issue when they controlled the Presidency and both houses of Congress. It's obvious that many of the ideas on gun control for those who oppose firearm ownership will face enormous hurdles in the near future. Compromise appears to be a lost art between the two major political parties in our nation.

I have proposed some ideas that would be difficult but perhaps not impossible to achieve. Obviously the NRA and other pro-gun organizations would disagree with me and there is no doubt that they pack considerable power.

Now it is your turn to come up with some realistic ideas that could be implemented.