What are some ways we can decrease gun violence and/or crimes involving guns without adding any restrictions at all to 2nd Amendment as it is currently defined by the SCOTUS? This isn’t the thread for arguing about the meaning of “well-regulated militia”, “gun nuts”, “gun grabbers” etc.
Gun violence and/or crimes involving guns have decreased by about 50% in the last 20 years. So - keep doing what we’re doing? Whatever it is.
There seems to be a correlation between crowding COMBINED with poverty and gun violence - so either decrease the population density or increase general wealth.
Enforce the existing rules, dramatically increase penalties for anyone who uses a firearm to COMMIT a crime.
Rob a bank or mug someone whilst using a gun? Automatic 15 year prison sentence tacked on to any additional charges, no parole eligibility for the gun offense, and permanent loss of second amendment rights for the criminal
No need to add any laws/bans/restrictions, enforce what’s already in place
Education. Free and paid, in schools and out, for kids as well as adults. I’m talking everything from PSAs and billboards promoting safe firearm habits to paying movie studios to make their main characters hold their weapons properly and with muzzle awareness. Incorporate some gun safety classes in grade schools and high schools, and offer paid marksmanship and concealed carry classes to the general population.
If we’re going to be the one country on earth with relatively free access to deadly firearms, we ought to cultivate a culture of healthy respect for their power. And by “respect” I don’t mean “paranoia”.
Well, there’s Chris Rock’s idea for a five thousand dollar tax on bullets. As he pointed out, it might not stop all gun crimes but you’d definitely stop seeing people getting shot unintentionally.
Okay, for a more serious answer. I think guns are essentially a multiplier in crime. They don’t cause the initial crime but they make the effects of the crime worse. So if you’re not going to remove guns, you should work on lowering the initial crime rate.
Reduce poverty and income inequality.
Treat them like cars. Must be registered and renewed every year. Must have a sample round fired so that the slugs can be stored for use in matches in future crime scenes. Mandatory two week cooling off period before sale is final. Background check required and statement of no mental health issues from doctor.
This. And better mental health care for people in low income brackets coupled with reducing the social stigma for seeking mental health care would probably accomplish a lot
The OP asked for measures that did not violate the Second Amendment.
My recommendation is to reduce illegitimate births. Being born to a single mother is associated with practically every social ill known to man, so reducing its incidence will help almost across the board.
Regards,
Shodan
This could be interpreted as a new restriction on 2nd Amendment rights, couldn’t it?
So…more abortions and gay marriages?
Infringement on the 2A, charging for a guaranteed right, raising the cost to discriminate against low income citizens
Ineffective and a waste of taxpayer money, multiple ways to change the rifling marks, the very act of firing the gun slowly changes the profile of the lands and grooves, a brand new barrel will not have the same pattern as one that has fired multiple rounds
Ineffective, criminal could steal a gun or use another weapon instead, this rule inconveniences collectors and hobbyists
already implemented on Federal Form 4473
Ballpark, 1/2 of gun deaths are suicides. While many of those are impulsive, and absent the gun, will choose methods with less guaranteed lethality, or will reconsider attempting suicide, IMHO you aren’t making a big dent in the number of those deaths by restricting firearms access from competent adults.
~35-40% are committed in the course of organized criminal activities; the participants in which, are already prohibited from owning a firearm. Not to mention their organized criminal activities are already illegal—primarily the drug trade. Getting rid of The War on Some Drugs may help lower this number. Beer distributors these days don’t use Tommy guns to settle territorial disputes, but back during Prohibition, they did.
And many if not most of the remainder are due to domestic disputes. Again, due to Lautenberg, being convicted of even misdemeanor family violence means you lose the right to own a handgun. (Is it all firearms too?) Yet felons and wife-beaters still are able to get them.
My solution, and I don’t know how much it will help, is allow concealed (or open carry) of handguns to competent adults who are willing to jump through the mild procedural hoops in states like Texas, Georgia, etc… Let potential victims—who, in the case of domestic violence, are frequently smaller and weaker than their abusers—choose if they want to be armed or not. Instead of forcing them to break the law if they want a means of defending themselves beyond harsh language. It wouldn’t hurt if we started throwing violent assholes in jail, and keeping them there.
Realistically though, the gun violence problem in this country is cultural. We do not have a gun violence problem so much as we have a violent African-American (and to a lesser extent, Hispanic of Latin or South American descent) male problem. Go look at the CDC’s morbidity and mortality statistics by race, age, and sex. When you do, you will find a violent death rate among African-American males that is anywhere from 8 to 15 times that of their White or Asian cohort. The stat that got me was that African-American males aged 70+ had a violent death rate in the same neighborhood as White males aged 15-24, i.e., the prime time for a young male to be a violent asshole. That’s absolutely crazy.
While the Dr. Pettit home invasion cases make the news, they are astoundingly rare compared with the frequency of violent death in the poor sections of forty or so cities of America. When you figure out how to lower the violent crime rate in the inner city, do let us all know.
Committing a crime is a voluntary action, don’t want to lose your 2A rights? Then don’t commit crimes. Pretty straightforward…
As is the OP of this thread: No changes in the 2nd Amendment.
Sure, along with mandatory Norplant for anyone receiving public assistance and some other measures that would horrify the lefties as much as you seem to believe abortion would horrify me.
Regards,
Shodan
Expand the NRA’s child safety program. It’s called the “Eddie Eagle” program and consists of simple rules for kids who find a gun:
- Stop.
- Don’t touch.
- Leave the area.
- Tell an adult.
It should be mandatory for kindergartens everywhere.
Ok, but is it clear how the Second Amendment is currently defined by the Supremes?
If so, can we have the thumbnail description, so we know what the parameters of the discussion are?
If not…?
Isn’t there a “blame the victim” assumption behind your logic here? Or are you arguing that black male shooting victims are somehow responsible for their own deaths?