Deaths from gunfire USofA

Quetzal

New member
Yes, just as we have to take driver's training to drive a motor vehicle, we should have to take weapons training to own deadly weapons. And just as we have to take proficiency tests, both practical and written, to obtain a license to operate motor vehicles at various levels and degrees of expertise and risk, so too we should have to prove our proficiency to achieve various levels of weapons ownership licensing.

If you want to carry a pistol on your hip like a cop, you should have to be just as proficient as any cop at how and when you can and cannot take it out and fire it, and at hitting your target without hitting bystanders. And you'd better be willing to wear a body-cam with your pistol, and be willing to accept liability if you screw up. Because that's what the cops are going to have to do, soon enough.

But if you want to use a rifle or shotgun for hunting, you certainly would not have to go through that much training. Mostly, you'd just need to know safety and wildlife hunting laws and procedures. And register your firearms, of course.

If you want assault weapons, you should be able to show why you need them. Which I doubt most people could. But they should be allowed with a special license for those who have a real need of them.

It's simple reason, really. The idea is that we want to keep the guns away from the people who are likely to abuse them: drunks, drug addicts, ragers, brawlers, stalkers, criminals, the mentally unstable, blind people, etc.,. It's not rocket science. A good system could be set up, but first we have to topple the sacred cow of the NRA. And the insanity that has been spawned by it.
For clarity, according to this post, you would want normal folks to wear body cams?
 

The Berean

Well-known member
you do realize, don't you, that what's called an "assault weapon" is just a semi-auto rifle with some scary-looking features, right?

they're not machine guns

Check out this deadly weapon! Potatos can kill, ya know! :noway:

potato%20gun.jpg
 

ok doser

lifeguard at the cement pond
Also, fix the criminal justice system to encourage criminals to be unarmed.

It would need police to be better than they seem to be right now to make more efforts to de-escalate rather than push an emotional or disturbed to violence that could have been avoided. This is key - if criminals think that will get shot anyway, they will feel the need to be armed.

:doh:




Limit access to assault weapons, concealable weapons and those that are more lethal, such as high velocity ammunition.

:freak:

i would love to buy subsonic, but it's banned here in NYS
 

GuySmiley

Well-known member
Yes, just as we have to take driver's training to drive a motor vehicle, we should have to take weapons training to own deadly weapons.

. . .

A good system could be set up, but first we have to topple the sacred cow of the NRA. And the insanity that has been spawned by it.
I don't think any of your suggestions would lower the homicide rate. Having tiny license plates on guns wont matter. Criminals simply wont comply. And if a gun is used to murder, how do we find the killer in the licensing records?

Also, fix the criminal justice system to encourage criminals to be unarmed.

It would need police to be better than they seem to be right now to make more efforts to de-escalate rather than push an emotional or disturbed to violence that could have been avoided. This is key - if criminals think that will get shot anyway, they will feel the need to be armed.

Increase the differential in sentencing for those heavily armed/lightly armed/unarmed, so that carrying a gun might seem more risky for those habitually getting arrested.

Limit access to assault weapons, concealable weapons and those that are more lethal, such as high velocity ammunition. Householders would be better off with shotguns, for example.
These are ideas that would make a difference.
 

Quetzal

New member
I don't think any of your suggestions would lower the homicide rate. Having tiny license plates on guns wont matter. Criminals simply wont comply. And if a gun is used to murder, how do we find the killer in the licensing records?
The problem is it would be a thankless system. Let's say it does nab one or two, preventing them from taking lethal action, we would never hear about it. Now, I will say that licensing and backgrounds alone will not do quite enough to make a dent, I am afraid.
 

GuySmiley

Well-known member
The problem is it would be a thankless system. Let's say it does nab one or two, preventing them from taking lethal action, we would never hear about it. Now, I will say that licensing and backgrounds alone will not do quite enough to make a dent, I am afraid.
I believe it would be too big an inconvenience for the very little return. I've never subscribed to the "if it will only save one life . . ." mantra.

The inconvenience would could just as easily cost lives as much as it saves for people who would otherwise be able to defend themselves with a gun.

EDIT: to be clear I mean PureX's licensing ideas. gcthomas had ideas I think would make positive differences.
 

Ktoyou

Well-known member
Hall of Fame
The way out idea might be to have requisite military service. I am pro gun because I am old, and like to feel safe. I do not hunt anymore.

If I were young today, I would join the air-force, or the navy and get jets! Then I would be able to have some real big guns and nobody would think to take them away. ;)
 
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