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Rob Freda

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Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

First that this idea even needs to be broached in the first place is ridiculous especially given the lack of clarity in the second amendment (eg it does not specify types of arms so that should be handled by laws not as a "do what you will free for all").

That said it seems there are some major elements that would be necessary to reduce gun deaths in the US and there are some obfuscating interests embodied in the NRA that must be sidestepped or accommodated in the solution.

Four main areas of focus jump out to reduce gun deaths:

1) "mass killings" (included in this would be the 2 or 3 person shootings as well as as Newtown or Aurora types)
2) Accidental shootings
3) Non-owner shootings (eg the shooter is not the owner of the gun)
4) "black market" trading

Added to these I would say the parameter that makes gun control legislation difficult is gun manufacturer revenue stream protection using the second amendment as a shill.

So what are the necessary parameters to make something happen vs. the absurdity of what is going to happen over the next few months in Washington:

1) Figure out a way that shifting policy creates more revenue for gun manufacturers so they get the NRA on board
2) Make sure that guns cannot be used in public places or by someone other than their owner

The Idea - Mandatory gun locks and universal kill switches.

On locks, all responsible gun owners have gun safes. Why not move the lock to the gun's trigger mechanism either with a combination code or biometric locks. That would prevent unauthorized use of the gun by anyone but the owner.

On kill switches, in the same locking mechanism put a chip and actuator that freezes the locking mechanism mentioned above when it receives a certain modulated radio signal.

If mandatory then all existing guns will have to be refitted with the new bolt mechanism creating revenue streams for the gun manufacturers and on all new guns they can charge more creating more revenue.

Thoughts?

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  • Michael Cyhaniuk

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    Feb 11 2013: This is an interesting idea and I like it, but there are a few problems I see with what you are saying. You mentioned that there is no specific wording to what guns are allowed by the constitution, what are the allowed guns in this scenario. Are any guns allowed or will there be some restrictions? The gun locks, how much would this drive up the price of a firearm? Same with the kill switch, how much does that cost? Also the kill switch might not work really well because someone might kill people before the kill switch is activated. Plus there would still be regular guns still on the street because it would take a prolonged period of time before all "unsafe" guns were eliminated.

    • Rob Freda

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      Feb 11 2013: if you can fit them with locks and kill switches I do not necessarily see a reason to restrict the types. That at least would prevent accidental shootings and people getting shot with their own guns. driving up the price is part of the point. refitting the guns with a simple device would create new revenue streams for the gun manufacturers. if the gun lobby does not at the least maintain its current revenue level the this whole thing is likely a dead issue.

      if you had a GPS kill switch that locked down the weapon in public areas of concern the kill switch would activate when you enter the zone. keep in mind I just threw the ideas out there. I did not take the time to design the system. the basic tech is there to do this, but in order to address issues that you and other have brought up the system would require a design not just spitballing.

      you're right. it would take time to work through guns that are already out there. that said if it was mandatory (which would make the gun suppliers happy) with stiff penalties then that might take less time. No single solution is going to solve everything.

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