Okay, so you folks over there don't like guns. And you folks over there love your guns.
Well, here's my two cents: I don't like crazy people having guns. The way I see it, this is no different from maintaining a law license or medical license.
So it seems to me rather than trying to take you gun lovers away from your guns, I simply propose modest regulations:
1. Crazy people are not allowed to own weapons. Anyone who owns a firearm in America must have, at their own expense, a complete psychiatric evaluation performed annually.
While I think we all might have some disagreement about gun rights and gun control, I don't think there is any disagreement that crazy people should not have weapons. Period. If a clinical psychiatric evaluation finds a person has something going on beyond the normal levels of human crazy, then that person must tender their license to own weapons. Nobody on the pro gun side can legitimately claim that the 2nd Amendment protect the rights of the insane to own guns. I am perfectly willing to pay for it out of my own pocket. If you are gun owner who can't afford to do that, tough.
2. Annual training and testing in firearm use and safety should be mandatory for all owners.
I am a gun owner and a member of the NRA. Yes, there are Democratic members of the NRA. I own a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. One I bought and the other two were passed down to me. I am a responsible owner, having been carefully trained in the use and handling of firearms by the Marine Corps. I'd have no problem at all submitting to mandatory training and testing on an annual basis at my own expense. If you are a gun owner who can't afford to do that, tough.
3. We need to triple the federal excise tax on weapons and ammunition, collected at the point of manufacture or import like a VAT or tarriff.
Raise it up to 30%. Before guns or ammunition ever leaves the factory, the federal government needs to start collecting money for the costly externalities that result from mass gun ownership.
4. Gun owners must accept less civil rights than non owners.
Sorry to say for my fellow gun owners, but if you want to have the power of life and death at the ready, you're going to have to accept some regulations on your behavior. Government should be be able to search your home without a warrant if you keep a high powered assault rifle or other high powered firearms. I'd have no problem if an agent of the NYPD or the ATF wanted to come in and check on my weapons stash. If I don't like it, I'll just get rid of them. But I wont because I'm not a crazy person and I understand why the state would like to know whats going on with me and my weapons.
5. The roundup of illegal weapons has to be stepped up with more robust law enforcement. Less drug war, more gun war.
Simply put, if you don't have the legal right to posess a weapon, you shouldn't have one. And if you have the legal right, you should be subject to to some strict regulation and control at your own expense. We need to seriously increase the costs and responsiblity of gun ownership for both the law abiding and the criminals.