Gun control

Middle ground as in instituting new logical gun control measures. On the one hand you have the gun nuts who want to able to carry any type of firearm in public at all times, and never have to submit to any type of background check when purchasing or selling a firearm.

I think "gun nuts" are just tired of knee jerk laws, that don't really do anything to effect crime. We don't require people to earn or pay for their Rights. We remove Rights from those who abuse them. Use the gun laws we already have to go after people.

Corrupt federally licensed gun dealers: Federally licensed gun dealers send more guns to the criminal market than any other single source. Nearly 60% of the guns used in crime are traced back to a small number—just 1.2%—of crooked gun dealers. Corrupt dealers frequently have high numbers of missing guns, in many cases because they’re selling guns “off the books” to private sellers and criminals. In 2005, the ATF examined 3,083 gun dealers and found 12,274 “missing” firearms.

The BATF claims that these licensed retailers are part of a block of rogue entrepreneurs tempted by the big profits of gun trafficking. They claim cracking down on these dealers continues to be a priority for the ATF, but they realistically don't have the manpower, or the budget. What's needed, is better monitoring of the activities of legally licensed gun dealers. This means examining FFL paperwork to see where their guns are coming from, and making sure that those guns are being sold legally. There is already a law requiring dealers to report gun thefts within 48 hours.

The BATF has refused to prosecute 1.83 mil felons and others (10 categories of people who by law are banned from touching let alone buying a firearm) who were rejected by the background check.

BATF as per the GAO congressional review fails to catch ANY person using a fake identification to pass the background check, much less catching anyone lying on their 4473 forms like Cho Loughner, Holmes.

BATF refuses to do anything about those 95% who don't even attempt to buy from a licensed source to begin with as per the law, they refuse to allow civilians access to use the NICS background check, imagine that.

Then of course there is your failed politicians, the ones who refuse to fund and resource the mental health reporting function of the NICS. As of July 2012, NICS database only had 1.7 mil records of people who by due process had lost their 2A rights for mental illness. Yet mental health experts agree that 50% of the current 2.7 mil prisoners and 7% of US adults are severely mentally ill. Meaning that the govt hasn't documented 91.2% of those who need to be in the NICS database to begin with.

Of course we can also review the TIME TO CRIME rate of firearms traced in the US from date of manufacture to use in a crime, around 14 years.

You can also review the recovery rate of property crimes being solved is below that of the 8.06%.

I have no problem with the BATF actually performing the background checks, and other duties set forth.

I have a SEVERE problem with people wanting more laws and regulations that don't apply to felons when you haven't fixed the BATF to begin with.

The other is the anti-gun people who want to make virtually all firearms illegal aside for maybe hunting rifles and shotguns.

Which is odd, considering these shotguns, and rifles are used in crime more often than, so called "assault weapons".

In 2011, out of 8,583 gun murders, 323 murders committed with a rifle but 496 murders committed with hammers and clubs. There were 356 murders in which a shotgun was the deadly weapon of choice. According to a Department of Justice study, assault weapons accounted for about 1% of guns associated with homicides, aggravated assaults, and robberies" and "only 2% of guns associated with drug crimes were assault weapons." That's 85 "assault rifles"(of any kind, not just ARs), out of those 323 rifle murders. 238 non-assault non military style rifles, plus 496 shotguns equal 734.

1,694 people killed by knives, and 728 beat to death with no weapons that year.

I believe, anti-gun advocates(in the US) should acknowledge that gun-control legislation is not the only answer to gun violence. Responsible gun ownership is also an answer. An enormous number of Americans believe this to be the case, and gun-control advocates do themselves no favors when they demonize gun owners, and advocates of armed self-defense, as backwoods barbarians. Many make the mistake of anthropomorphizing guns, ascribing to them moral characteristics they do not possess. Guns can be used to do evil, but guns can also be used to do good.

Seventeen years ago, in the aftermath of Matthew Shepard’s murder, Jonathan Rauch launched a national movement when he wrote an article for Salon arguing that gay people should arm themselves against violent bigots. Pink Pistol clubs sprang up across America, in which gays and lesbians learn to use firearms in self-defense. I taught classes to several of these clubs, and have had a couple of students track me down to tell me how it saved their lives. Other vulnerable groups have also taken to the idea of concealed carry: in Texas, African American women represent the largest percentage increase of concealed-carry permit seekers over the last decade.

Background checks on all gun sales, training requirements, and rounds per magazine all seem like rational solutions to lowering gun related deaths.

The real problem is, there is nothing to be gained by restricting the guns. The Assault Weapon Ban was allowed to expire because it failed to do any good. Yet, our violent crime has had an amazing drop in the last decade. It's at a 50 year low. The only real problem with the so-called Assault Weapons is the attention they get. Whatever gun the movies and the gun control people talk about will be the weapon of choice of the crazy people. These killers don’t really know much about guns. They just want the ones the press tells them are the ones that kill large numbers of people. You create the demand among criminals with your talk of how “bad” they are.

I have traveled a lot the past 10 years, and the one thing people outside the USA can never seem to understand is how easy it is for Americans to buy guns legally. Not only the ability to buy them, but the type of firearms that are available. I actually described a gun show I went to in Montana to a colleague of mine in London, and he thought I was full of it. To this day he doesn't believe me.

No surprise there. They live on the other side of the ocean. Hell, people in New York, may not get, or understand people in Texas. That makes all the difference in the world to me. I've traveled a lot, including England. Nice place, but I'm a outsider, so I wouldn't began to try and tell them how they should run their country. I am happy they live in a country that has laws that reflect it's citizens beliefs. I'm happy I live in a country that reflects mine.

I am fortunate enough to have participated in cross-traing programs with Britsh cops. I've done ride-alongs in the UK, and have taken Britsh cops on ride-alongs over here. One thing we all agree on, British cops don't face anything anywhere close to what US cops face on a daily basis. Even though it's getting a lot better, our drug/gang situation is off the charts, compared to the Australia. Our GINI coefficient is closer to many 3rd world countries, and way worse than the UK. This is not really a gun problem.

There are over 750,000 law enforcement officers in this country, and our experience gives us a much more realistic idea, of what's really needed to make a difference.

PoliceOne conducted the most comprehensive survey ever of American law enforcement officers’ opinions on the topic gripping the nation's attention in recent weeks: gun control.

Breaking down the results, it's important to note that 70 percent of respondents are field-level law enforcers — those who are face-to-face in the fight against violent crime on a daily basis — not office-bound, non-sworn administrators or perpetually-campaigning elected officials.

Virtually all respondents (95 percent) say that a federal ban on manufacture and sale of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds would not reduce violent crime.

The majority of respondents — 71 percent — say a federal ban on the manufacture and sale of some semi-automatics would have no effect on reducing violent crime.

About 85 percent of officers say the passage of the White House’s currently proposed legislation would have a zero or negative effect on their safety.

The overwhelming majority (almost 90 percent) of officers believe that casualties would be decreased if armed citizens were present at the onset of an active-shooter incident.

More than 80 percent of respondents support arming school teachers and administrators who willingly volunteer to train with firearms and carry one in the course of the job.

More than four in five respondents (81 percent) say that gun-buyback programs are ineffective in reducing gun violence.

More than half of respondents feel that increased punishment for obviously illegal gun sales could have a positive impact on reducing gun violence.

Bottom Line Conclusions
Quite clearly, the majority of officers polled oppose the theories brought forth by gun-control advocates who claim that proposed restrictions on weapon capabilities and production would reduce crime.

In fact, many officers responding to this survey seem to feel that those controls will negatively affect their ability to fight violent criminals.

Contrary to what the mainstream media and certain politicians would have us believe, police overwhelmingly favor an armed citizenry, would like to see more guns in the hands of responsible people, and are skeptical of any greater restrictions placed on gun purchase, ownership, or accessibility.

The officers patrolling America’s streets have a deeply-vested interest — and perhaps the most relevant interest — in making sure that decisions related to controlling, monitoring, restricting, as well as supporting and/or prohibiting an armed populace are wise and effective. With this survey, their voice has been heard.

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Background checks on all gun sales, training requirements, and rounds per magazine all seem like rational solutions to lowering gun related deaths.

Among our literal thousands of current gun laws, gun sales by all licensed dealers already require a background check.

The problem is that the people who most need to be caught by a background check simply will opt out. Habitual criminals buy black market guns, either stolen, supplied by a straw buyer or a gun trafficker. These avenues will evade any imposed background check.

Training is a great idea. Just don't expect gun owners to bear the cost as a condition of their rights and don't expect anti-gunners to support it unless it IS a financial obstacle to gun ownership. They love heaping burdens on this particular right.

Magazine capacity limits are an instinctive "fix" but even in the rare mass killing scenario, it has little real effect. Mass killers often carry multiple guns or a number of reduced capacity mags. The Cumbria, England killer used a .22 rifle and double barrel shotgun to kill about as many people as James Holmes did in a crowded theater with his "arsenal". In the vast majority of gun crime, it is irrelevant. A premeditated killer can adapt his tactics to whatever tools are available.

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Amplified, you mistakenly said "logical" instead of "common sense" as every other know-nothing says. We already have FBI background checks on every gun purchase from a dealer, and every handgun purchase even if through a private sale. They all go through rigorous checks, AND STILL DOES NOTHING TO COMBAT CRIME.

Billy the Kid

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I have traveled a lot the past 10 years, and the one thing people outside the USA can never seem to understand is how easy it is for Americans to buy guns legally. Not only the ability to buy them, but the type of firearms that are available.

over 30 jurisdictional studies across the US have shown if you are not a gang member, prior felon or person with five or more arrests (career criminal) who are 91% of US homicide victims, you are LESS likely to be murdered in the gun happy USA than in Australia, Canada or the developed nation mean.

Background checks on all gun sales, training requirements, and rounds per magazine all seem like rational solutions to lowering gun related deaths.

a) Background checks are done in 98% of guns used in crime.
b) and capacity of magazines has been increasing for decades, and gun murder has been plummeting.
c) Same demographic same region jurisdictions with magazine capacity limits, and training requirements have MORE murder . Compare per capacity Virginia vs Maryland murder rates

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