The people who already own guns legally are - by definition - not committing crimes with them. And lots of people have a fuck ton of guns. 20 guns in the same house by a non crime committing owner are no threat to public safety and one gun in the hands of a lunatic is.

I’d attack the problem of gun violence by:

1) Making it more difficult to obtain new guns by first time gun owners (training, etc). Best predictor of future behavior and all… And then most gun nuts out there who would normally hee and haw about restrictions and don’t let things get done wouldn’t really care since they’re not affected.

2) Dramatically increasing the penalty - with heavy mandatory minimus (as much as I hate them) for any crime committed with a gun and/or illegal possession of a firearm BOTH for the one who possesses the gun and all accomplices. If a 3 man crew tries to rob a liquor store with a gun, charge them all with attempted murder. Make sure the juice is not worth the squeeze of bringing a gun to a crime scene. Even if you don’t intend to use it, you just never know how a situation is going to go down.

3) Study what needs to be done to successfully implement red flag warnings. Virtually every mass shooting these days, a story inevitably comes out days or weeks later about how some poor bastard warned the police about the guy, and it just never got in front of the right eyes on the right desk. Put whatever resources behind this that is needed without regard for cost. Addressing the #1 killer of children in our country is worth it.

4) Immediate ban on individual to individual sales or transfers of any gun capable of carrying more than 2 rounds. You wanna pass down pee-paw’s old shotgun to the next generation? Who gives a shit. Anything else, needs to be done at licensed gun dealer with background check.


[Post edited by CharlestonSC at 11/24/2023 3:42PM]