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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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  • Pat Henderson

    • 0
    Feb 13 2013: When I look at any subject honestly and without any of my biases,
    I find something that may be disturbing to some and comforting to others.
    I have very conservative and very liberal views on the very same issues.
    I find that I get the most replies to my posts when I pick one side or
    the other and ignore the other side of the issue almost completely.
    As with Dewayne I provoked him with a stance that to him, from my post,
    was seemingly intractable. That was an experiment on my part.Sorry Dewayne.
    He was, I would say convinced by those particular statements of my
    state of mind on this issue and basically did not want to hear anything
    I had to say because to him I seemed ridiculous. Totally understandable.
    It seems to me that we could change the title of this conversation how do
    we bring common sense to the masses.
    I mean most people I meet have a healthy dose of common sense when talking
    to them on a one on one face to face talk. but as soon as they are
    in a more public setting they have a need to represent themselves in a
    slightly different way, meaning they change the way they see the world
    to accommodate the world. People are generally more abusive to others
    when they are in a crowd and I believe it is easier when you stand from
    that point of view to be that way. Make no mistake this online discussion is
    in the publicWe as humans have always sought acceptance to our clan,tribe,clique or
    society. It's easier to lean in a certain way since those around us are
    already doing so.
    Most people alive in this world today, I believe, are Pretty normal, if there is
    such a thing.
    What I'm trying get across here is that huge difference of
    opinion we think we have here.
    We are trying to have a discussion on the dangers of weapons (guns in particular)
    in our society.
    There are very sane arguments on both sides of the issue and some have espoused
    ideas, including me that we are discussing a social problem more than a procession of
    weapons in our society problem.

    • Dwayne Rabideau

      • +1
      Feb 14 2013: I'm sorry Pat, contrary to what you believe I was not provoked. The issue with online discussion is that the writing does not accurately express a person's emotion or lack there of. My choice of the word asinine was poorly chosen.
      But for the sake of this entire argument, too much is left for conjecture and not facts.
      People will use selective points in an effort to represent their point of view.
      What I do believe is statistics and follow through by looking at "Cause and effect"
      What you cannot deny is the body count that comes from gun possession.

      • shawn disney 10+

        • 0
        Feb 15 2013: Dwayne: you say "body count comes from gun possession". That is simply not true. There are now, and always have been , groups of people who have lots of guns, but very little in the way of body count.. Switzerland is a good example. As loaded up with machine guns as they are, (they have a Militia rather than a Standing Army)why is their "body count" negligible?!

        • Dwayne Rabideau

          • 0
          Feb 15 2013: Shawn, I am glad that you brought up Switzerland because their model flies in the face of what you believe.
          The per capita gun homicide rate in Switzerland is 11x greater than that of Great Britain who has a hand gun AND automatic/semi-automatic gun ban. In fact in all gun related deaths period, Switzerland's rate 15x that of Great Britain
          Canada who has strict handgun regulations and bans on automatic and semi-automatic weapons is still 2x safer than Switzerland and 7x safer than the US per capita.
          The percentage of overall homicide rates and percentage of gun homicides in that number also tell the tale.
          Switzerland 72%
          US 68.3%
          Canada 28.3%
          Great Britain 8%
          China (handgun ban) 3%
          Japan (handgun ban) 1%

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