And every time I see someone talk about how limiting magazine sizes would have saved the eleventh, fifteenth or twentieth victim in a massacre, I want to throw something at the screen.
Follow the logic of your own premise!!!
Let's ban all magazines, period. All of them. Of any size. That would most likely prevent a shooter from ever embarking on a killing spree in the first place, as they would no longer have the ability to quickly replace any number of bullets. Psychologically, they would no longer be in the middle of their own combat movie, trying to turn fantasy into reality. They would be physically and emotionally limited.
(And, for those gun nuts who love to pounce on jargon issues, thinking their "gotcha" is a legitimate form of debate -- it's not -- I'm saying ban all detachable ammo containers, of any size, shape or name. Period. You can stuff your jargon.)
We should limit guns to those that require the loading of bullets by hand, one at a time, only. One bullet at a time, with a limit of six per gun. No detachable ammo container allowed. Period. End of story.
That would save lives. And saving lives trumps the protection of deadly pieces of metal every time.
More after the fold . . . .
I would add to the above with this:
*Require licensing and registration for all gun owners and all gun purchases. Guns should be treated like cars, in this way. Require tests and training before getting the license.
*Start a national buyback program for all newly illegal guns and ammo. Citizens would have one year to comply voluntarily. If they fail to sell back their weapons and ammo, they then lose the status of "law abiding citizen." They become illegal gun owners.
That said, since we already incarcerate more people per capita than any other nation, I am against confiscation or jailing of those illegal gun owners. It's enough to lose their status as "law abiding citizen." If, however, they are caught using that now illegal weapon in public, it should be confiscated.
*Remove all liability shields won by the gun industry. People should be able to sue them, just as they can sue any other industry.
*Remove all restrictions on the study of gun violence in America. Currently, the CDS and NIH are banned from the study, because the brownshirts at the NRA got Congress to suppress those studies.
*Remove all restrictions across the nation on gun safety regulations. Some states are actually trying to make it illegal to even offer gun safety legislation. That is anti-democratic and despicable.
. . . .
And all of the above would fully comply with the 2nd Amendment. Nothing suggested above would infringe on anyone's right to "keep and bear arms." The amendment was never, ever a protection of consumer choice. It was never, ever a guarantee that Americans could buy any gun available, of any capacity or technology. We could ban 99.9% of all guns and ammo and still comply with the SA. As long as Americans can "keep and bear arms" we are in full compliance.
Fri Apr 19, 2013 at 8:05 AM PT: It's interesting that in the comments, some see my suggestions as "extreme." So it's "extreme" to want to reduce the out-of-control firepower now available pretty much to anyone? It's "extreme" to call for an end to the escalation of firepower and weapons capacity in America? It's extreme to want to get rid of the weapons of choice for mass murderers?
Sorry, but that's not extreme at all. That's just common sense. What's "extreme" is the defense of those weapons of mass destruction. Defending the escalation of firepower in America is extreme. Defending the easy access to weapons of mass destruction is extreme. Defending the easy availability of high-capacity weaponry is extreme. Obviously. Self-evidently so. It's extreme to actually defend the existence of weapons that mowed down twenty children in Newtown, along with six adults. That's extreme. That's crazy. That's indefensible.