We are so hung up on the gun issues, constitutionality of the right to own a gun, loopholes, and so on, that we run circles not seeing a single viable solution.
The ‘gun show loopholes’ happen only because the whole process of obtaining a gun is so convoluted and awkward, and and IS un-applicable.
No matter if you are pro-gun or anti-gun, you have to agree, that a clear, applicable, and easily understood gun law would make our country safer.
We argue constantly about the background checks at the purchase point. Since the individual sellers do not have real means to perform it, they are exempt from this requirement. I hear constantly voices trying to impose this requirement also on the individuals. How?
I am sure that the solution lays elsewhere.
We do not even think about the driving licenses. Many decades ago we have agreed that you have to obtain the driving license for the kind of vehicle you want to drive. Once you get the license to drive a vehicle under a certain weight limit, you can’t drive an eighteen-wheeler, or a motorcycle without obtaining an additional license. It simply makes sense.
And then, when you buy a vehicle you register it - but you are able to operate it if, and only if you have the license!
So, my proposal is as follows:
1. In order to be able to buy a gun (any gun), an individual has to obtain the license (for the particular kind of weapon - be it a hand hun, hunting rifle, or a shot gun). But separate the licensing from the gun purchase. At the point of obtaining the gun license all background check are done by the most suitable to do so agency - the police. Every 2 years the process should be repeated. If you have seizures - the driving license is revoked. If you have psychotic episodes your gun license should be revoked - just a common sense.
2. The above is followed by just a single additional requirement. You can’t purchase any guns, anywhere, without a VALID, current gun-license.
3. All guns are registered at the point of purchase - with no exceptions.
It makes all the gun sales vetted, and takes the burden of the background check in the individual sales from the seller. But at the same time creates the situation in which an individual who doesn’t pass the periodical renewal - can’t purchase a gun.
Wouldn’t it make simpler and more logical the whole process of purchasing and using guns in America. It surly would.
Unfortunately, both proponents and opponents of the guns are so deeply entrenched in their outdated (I would call it archaic) application of the second Amendment, that the logical and simple solutions are never on the table.
I am not even talking about the 'assault rifle' issue. To me, it's no-brainer. Unless you are a law enforcement agent, you do not have a use (and you shouldn't be able to use it) for the AK-47, M-16, nor their 'semi-automatic' versions. The ban on these weapons was in force for years and should return.
We have as many guns in the open as many citizens in the US. We have to make these guns trackable and transparent. We have to take them away from the individuals who are unstable, or simply ‘loonies’ (I know it’s not ‘pc correct’).
What do you say - Citizens of the US?
