The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    barefooted's picture

    Bite The Bullet

    By barefooted on Sat, 06/27/2015 - 8:17pm |

    Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

    That's true. Unless you get pistol-whipped or somebody throws it at your head really hard, the gun won't kill you. What tears through flesh, arteries, organs and bone leaving a person dead or dying is the bullet.

    Let's dream for a moment. Let's assume that tomorrow is the big day, and as of midnight gun manufacturers stop making their product. Cold turkey - no exceptions. The federal government has established a Department of Arms (or something with a better acronym) which is solely responsible for the manufacturing of weapons for military and police department use. Private purchase of any style gun is strictly prohibited - no one selling them, no new ones available on the private market.

    Would that solve anything? Most folks in the know believe that there are more guns floating around this country than there are people in it. I've no reason to doubt them, so even if no new ones were available there'd still be more than enough old ones. No gun control law will solve that reality. But the one thing that makes those weapons lethal is the least regulated part of the picture - the bullets.

    Proposals to limit the number of bullets in a clip went nowhere. Even if they had, they'd at best have slowed a killer down for a few seconds. Suppose that shooter couldn't get more than X amount of bullets per year? It could be tracked by the buyer's social security number - which the government already has, so no registration required. Or better yet, maybe we should follow Chris Rock's suggestion and make them really, really expensive. Hard to regulate price in the private market, though, unless supply is limited. Laws can regulate production ... where and how they're sold ... can't they? Should they?

    Okay, time to wake from the dream of no new guns. But maybe it's time to look outside the box - or gun laws - for a solution. What we're doing isn't working and there aren't any ideas on the horizon that will. Guns don't do what they are designed to do without bullets. It's possible that by making them the target we can sneak in the back door of gun control.

     

    Comments

    It seems to me that the place to begin gun control is with campaign financing. I think that the reason gun regulations face so much opposition with lawmakers is that the NRA has been very effective in punishing candidates and legislators who don't follow their demands. So the best answer seems to be what Bloomberg is beginning to do---use the NRA's own tactics against them by pushing candidates and legislators the other direction.

    It's a depressing subject because gun ownership, ammunition and regulations seem to be past the point of no return.

    Maybe ammunition control is feasible, I just don't know. But you have to have the votes.


    by Oxy Mora on Sat, 06/27/2015 - 10:15pm

    It's very much past the point of no return already, and getting worse. We need new ideas, different directions to get a handle on it. We know what doesn't work - we also have to admit that many proposed solutions would barely touch the problem.

    Money talks in many ways, not just in campaigns. How many wealthy people, on average, use guns as a weapon? Making them more expensive to own and effectively use would have an effect at the street level.


    by barefooted on Sun, 06/28/2015 - 12:39am

    Works for me, but like Oxy says, it's about the votes, and right now we sure don't have them. It's certainly a goal worth working towards. I like it.


    by stillidealistic on Sat, 06/27/2015 - 10:25pm

    Simple, each individual gun has to be insured for Liability of a minimum amount.  Say like 1 million dollar policy.  So if you own 20 weapons you have to carry 20 million dollars of liability insurance. If a weapon turns up registered to a person but that person does not have it insured or have not declared it stolen then that person goes to jail. You have as many as you want as long as you can afford to insure them. If you can afford the insurance then you have to turn them over to the authorities.  We could also tax them with a national weapons tax yearly.  You have to pay a federal tax every year on each weapon.  Make it expensive enough to discourage large collections.   

    If a child get a hold of a gun you own and hurts or kills with it. you will be charged with manslaughter.  

    Make it as hard to own a gun as it is to have an abortion.  To do this charge a dealer fee tax on all transactions and limit how may dealer license per state.  


    by trkingmomoe on Sat, 06/27/2015 - 11:12pm

    I like brainstorming on this subject.  

    How about making owners of assault weapons be required to keep and store all assault weapons at a secure target shooting facility which is the only place they can be used?  Gun owners claim they only own these types of guns for the fun of shooting them, so they get to enjoy keeping them right at the place they go for target practice. 

    Or how about making buying ammunition over a certain amount require a permit for which a written request stating the reason for the additional ammunition must be filed with the police?  


    by MrSmith1 on Sun, 06/28/2015 - 12:15am

    One of the most effective gun control laws we have is the waiting period for purchase. Maybe we need one for bullets, too.


    by barefooted on Sun, 06/28/2015 - 12:44am

    Please supply some data to back up this ridiculous claim. People who promote these inane remedies for reducing violence, that has many systemic causes, only supply ammunition to the opponents of their idiot Liberal causes because giving up rights to not solve a problem is stupid and most people who can think reject this nonsense.


    by Peter (not verified) on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 10:59am

    Shooting in Tunisia, shooting in Charleston - the guy in Tunisia managed to stock up on serious enough guns & enough ammo to take out 80 people - presumably firing many more rounds in a matter of seconds.

    The idiocy of "gun rights" is pretty easily seen in that no sane person wants to wield weaponry to the beach, but the fucktards that decide we can't limit guns make it easy for anyone to stock up and walk into a public place and blast away. Even if someone in the crowd is armed, they stand to kill a number of bystanders as kill the perp. Try that in a church congregation with someone firing away pointblank range.

    So I guess we're stuck with the poison pill the founding fathers put in the Constitution - too bad we didn't repeal that when we repealed that 3/5th-a-slave-for-representation* nonsense that was also sacrosanct once upon a time.  *meaning to allow 0 representation for anyone not treated as a human being.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 12:10pm

    Like a personal property tax, and liability insurance. If you own a gun that is determined to have caused property damage or bodily injury, it would cover financial responsibility. Much like auto insurance.


    by barefooted on Sun, 06/28/2015 - 12:29am

    It's not the bullet that kills you - it's the hole. Ban holes.

    by Anonymous pp (not verified) on Sun, 06/28/2015 - 1:55am

    If the bullet was satisfied by the hole, we'd be okay. Unfortunately, it's the continued penetration that hurts.


    by barefooted on Sun, 06/28/2015 - 2:21am

    Ouch, repeat offenders and mood extenders. Curable by K-Y, or more drastic prophylactic action needed? If only people were more Teflon-coated.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 5:16am

    My robot is Teflon coated and so far here in Texas he's working fine even after having been shot twice, once at Kroger's for denigrating Texas-grown peaches and the other time at Chick Filet when he was kissing another robot as a form of protest. So, yes, Teflon coating works. Now I'm testing the robot equipped with his new bullet proof helmet and latex balls in a whiskey bar in Gun Barrel City. 

    "Open carry" starts in Texas on January 1st and my beta testing will be completed by then.  After several years' confinement here in Texas, I'm going to celebrate New Years' Eve, put on my bullet proof helmet, coat my guts with Teflon and venture out to Starbucks.  


    by Oxy Mora on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 1:18pm

    barefooted: in seriousness, I'm not sure I am willing to live in a state with "open carry". We'll see how it works out, but the onus is on businesses to put up the "proper and very proscribed language" if they don't want open carriers in their establishment and I won't put up with any who don't resist it.


    by Oxy Mora on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 1:47pm

    Does the state provide a template for business owners for what exactly constitutes "proper and very proscribed language"? I would think liability would be a factor regarding the responsibilities the owners have to insure the safety of their patrons. Personally, I wouldn't do business anywhere that didn't bar weapons in their establishment.


    by barefooted on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 2:38pm

    Could watch Frank and the Robot - teach you how to make money while you're at it. And I figger once they see a robot do Open Carry, they'll be a bit shy to compete.

    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 2:24pm

    An exciting new addition to "Battlebots".


    by barefooted on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 2:42pm