Broad approaches to gun control/regulation

[virginia mountainman]

5. My thoughts

Controlling availability - this would be laws intended to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them, including strategies like registration, background checks, and so on, as well as laws like restrictive CCW intended to keep guns out of public space,

No problem with background checks, registration is a non-starter. I don't like the idea of a government list to "who owns what". America is very different today than it was when I was young, today, I saw a video of a "government agent" or a group of police, turning police dogs loose on babies in strollers...where do we go from here?!

As for CCW restrictions, whats the point?? Most of these mass shootings happen in "gun free zones" all that does is insure that the law abiding are unarmed, and time has proven that the law abiding are not the ones you must worry about. The theater in Colorado was a "gun free zone" it absoluty did not stop the killer.

Controlling lethality - things like 'assault weapons' bans that are intended to reduce the lethality/effectiveness of privately owned guns, and

Semi automatic rifles are here to stay, and have been for well over 100 years. They happen to be the best selling rifles in America. Attempts to ban them only make them more desirable. And lethal?? The 12 gauge shotgun, is one of the most lethal, and powerful weapons a civilian can own. At close range a 12 gauge loaded with buckshot is a FEARSOME WEAPON, and WILL remove limbs from the targeted person. Once all is said and done, I expect to learn that the most deadly weapon he used in the theater that night was the shotgun. The AR15 is just a little more than a glorified .22 in power, and it is not lethal unless you hit an organ, or a main artery. I know this because, I was raised a hunter, and understand "what gun, would be used for what purpose" actually Guns, like the AR15 in its standard caliber of 5.56 or .223, are BANNED in many states for hunting, not due to magazine capacity, but because they are too weak to reliably make a clean, merciful kill. Guns of that type tend to wound, not kill. And sadly that is by design, and the rifles military heritage if you wound an enemy soldier on the battlefield, it takes 2 more out of action to care for him...If you kill him, he does not take anyone else out of the battle, since he no longer needs care.

Education - mandatory training like California's Handgun Safety Certificate, safety presentations in school, etc.

I am 100% with you on that one.