[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]Enron: Again, I have no issue with restrictions on purchasing weapons, and there are laws/regulations on the books to prevent certain types of weapons, like fully automatic, along with screening potential problem purchasers (see ATF Form 4473).
Do I believe more could be done? Absolutely. Only 11 states have waiting periods. This should be nationwide. While the 4473 form requires info that’s turned over to NICS (a national criminal database), this could be tightened up as well.
The problem here is that you are only offering sweeping generalities. I’ve been a responsible gun owner my entire adult life and I will not voluntarily submit to my weapons being confiscated solely based on the whims of a hysterical electorate.
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Allan, I have no doubt that you have been responsible and our positions may not even be that far apart.
What I have issue with is people who claim that they have unlimited freedom to do whatever they want as far as firearms are concerned. The fact is that our every other freedom has reasonable limits on it and I believe that firearms should not be an exception. I believe that you will agree. I also have issue with people who say current system needs no change, clearly because it is so obvious that it has failed – We owe it to our future generations to find a solution!
Once we accept that we do not have unlimited freedoms with firearms we can reach a middle ground where responsible owners can own them while we minimize the damage they cause in the hands of bad guys. And we we can achieve that without banning everything – but by definition some limits will be placed even on responsible owners.
We can discuss all kind of things listed bellow. I am not for everything and on some I have no position. But I think they are all reasonable suggestions to consider.
(a) Should certain firearms have no utility in civilan hands? ( We can do better job on defining them)
(b) Should we allow high capacity magazines?
(c) Should we allow sales over the internet?
(d) should there be waiting periods and background checks and mental health checks before you are allowed to buy certain firearms?
(e) Should we mandate locks where kids are in the house?
(f) Should there be electronic registry of certain firearms?
(g) Should we hold manufacturers and owners liable for bad conduct?
(h) Should we mandate certain design changes in firearms sold to civilians?
(f) Should we regulate private party sales and gun-shows more tightly?
(g) What purpose does “pen-carry” serve?
You can add your own and you may disagree with many but a sane discussion is the one where we discuss all this so that you don’t need to even think about banning firearms outright.
If there is a will there is way. However the reality is that NRA and certain people would not have good-faith discussion about anything on this list.