You have participated in enough discussions on the subject to be aware that there are many people here who own guns and have a good working knowledge of them. Heck, even I know not to call a rifle a gun, but let’s not nitpick.
As for the rest of the users, even those who couldn’t tell a trigger sear from a magazine follower spring know that guns fire little pieces of metal (“bullets”) that can kill and maim, which is why we are talking about them here.
Exactly. Fiddling around with narrow definitions of specific firearms or features is accepting the other side’s definition of the problem and their fatalistic argument that nothing will work because people will just do [ x ]. You don’t go into a negotiation starting from the other guy’s position. You state your own.
@Mister44, you have repeatedly stated your position: essentially no change to existing gun accessibility.
Here’s mine:
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Handguns. Ban them. Semiautos, revolvers, single shot, ban them all. There is no reason for civilians to have handguns compelling enough to outweigh the harm they do.
1(a). “Aha,” you say, “Gotcha already. Define a handgun.” Good point. I’ll rephrase. Ban all firearms that in their shortest configuration have a length less than 24 inches (US units for obvious reasons).
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Semiautomatics. (This term has been so frequently discussed in mainstream media that I won’t bother with a definition.) Ban them. Ban them all.
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Removable magazines. Ban them. This will stop Mr. Clever Gun Tinkerer looking at clause 2 above and producing a .30-30 lever action with a 100-round drum magazine (“The gun that won the Walmart”).
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Ban firearms that can hold more than two or three rounds, individually fed.
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Require licencing of owners and registration of all firearms.
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Second Amendment? Here we go. Throw it out. It didn’t come from God. It’s a document created by men for the conditions applying in the 18th century, and misinterpreted in the latter half of the 20th century.
What are we left with? Conventional rifles and shotguns, such as the majority of hunting weapons. It’s hard to make the argument that a shotgun is inadequate for home defense. Defense on the street? Sorry, you don’t get to carry your guns on the street. We are all safer if that’s not allowed.
Issues of registration, background checks, red flags, exceptions for special requirements, etc to be worked out by the legislators.
A radical dream? No, I’ve just described laws not very different from those in most civilized countries. Will it fly in America? Of course not, silly, because Americans. I’m perfectly aware of that.
