MidnightCane
When I was a kid, I could see things.
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2015
- Messages
- 1,375
You had me until this:Here's one of my main issues: the inability of people to cross the aisle.
I consider myself a left-leaning independent, but certainly a moderate/centrist. I belive there are things that both parties do right and do wrong. I can't help but feel that too many people's opinions are shaped by what their party or source of news says they should do/think.
My brother's father-in-law has a stash of weapons that could arm a small country. He has them locked up in the basement, some crazy lock system so no kids/grandkids can get in, none of the guns are loaded, no one goes down there without him present. He is a big game hunter, and he likes to shoot the semi-automatic weapons on acreage he owns, taking the kids and grandkids with him. This guy is exactly what one is supposed to be as a gun owner. Is it fair to take his guns? I mean, no, not really. Or not at all. That is what he is into. It'd kinda be the same as taking Miami Hurricanes football away from me (yes, I know Canes don't kill people... guns are his hobby and Canes are mine, you get my point).
But where is the tradeoff between what is essentially a hobby - I don't think he ever, realistically, intends for his gun stash to protect him from Al Queda or aliens - vs kids dying in school shootings? Something has to give here.
I've said it several times in this thread, and I have no idea if there is any merit to it (i.e., if any politicians/talking heads have said anything like this, or if it is even viable), but if I had to offer a solution, a hypothetical:
-December 31, 2027 is the last day you can buy a gun in the US.
-Buy all the guns you want before this day, they are yours and they are legal
-Jan 1, 2028 - register all your guns; failure to register them renders them illegal and you in breach of the law
-All sales of guns (private party to private party) after 1/1/28 must be registered and approved in advance - something like title insurance when buying a house
-By doing this, you aren't taking away the hobby/"rights" of present-day gun owners; guns then become essentially a family heirloom that get passed down generation to generation
-Concurrently, the gov't starts a buyback program like they did in England; kid that inherits a gun can turn right around and sell if for cash to the US government
-The next generation (and the one after that) then won't even know what it is to "lose" their right to purchase a firearm, because they never had that right to begin with; just like kids today can't imagine that black people weren't allowed in the same schools and had to ride in the back of the bus
-The gun companies eventually consolidate or go out of business, but **** them anyway
-Eventually, the trickle-down effect will kick in, and the school shootings and senseless murders will reduce
Will the shootings go away? No, not for a long time, and not totally. But it is SOMETHING. And I think that is all that most reasonable folks are looking for right now... SOMETHING.
Jan 1, 2028 - register all your guns;