The United States is unique among developed nations in that it regards the possession of firearms a civil liberty, an idea that dates back to the American Revolution were armed citizenry rebelled against unjust British rule, and has more guns per capita than any other nation on the planet. American citizens later have used firearms to protect themselves, their families, their property, and their rights. The right to bear arms has been upheld in court repeatedly and it is insane to believe that all of America’s 300 million privately owned guns will be confiscated and destroyed.
The United States also carries the burden of the right to bear arms. This has led to America having an exceptionally high homicide rate and is susceptible to mass shootings. There are many reasons behind the bloodshed ranging from the failed drug war to systemic poverty to mental illness to terrorism. To debate on the right to bear arms and this violence usually leads to views that ignore many of the underlying causes and polarizes the debate so that compromises become less likely. When measures are passed to try to reduce violence they usually are meaningless like bans on collapsible buttstocks or imported firearms or shoestrings. Of late, the idea of banning certain individuals from buying guns based on those individuals being on a secret government list and ignoring due process has become popular idea as well.
It should be theoretically possible to protect the second amendment, reduce overall gun regulation, protect due process, and minimize gun violence. Smarter and simpler regulations and policies addressing the reasons behind much of the violence in America sounds like something that everyone should support but can’t agree on what the regulations should be and what policies to you enact to reduce violence. Here’s my policies that don’t focus on gun regulation, but would help in reducing gun violence:
- Economic progress of a land value tax and a strong social safety net via a negative income tax
- Non-interventionist foreign policy combined with a less of a surveillance state as explained here
- The end of the drug war and the criminalization of drug use with reforms to current drug patent laws to make needed medications more affordable, I'll try to address intellectual property stuff in the future.
These 3 overarching policies would lessen stress brought by financial insecurity, decrease the threat of Islamic terrorism, and would stop the black market for drugs that fuels a large percentage of violence in America as well as other nations such as Mexico. It’s also worthy of noting that the a large proportion of gun violence occurs in certain neighborhood hotspots that can be targeted by police.
For actual law on guns, I think dividing guns into two categories based on their action. You’ll have manual and automatic. Manual action guns would include revolvers, bolt-action rifles, pump-action shotguns, and other such guns. Automatic action guns would include things like a Colt 1911 or an AR-15.
Now sales of manual action weapons should be easy and quick for adults who need a firearm. Revolvers, shotguns, and bolt-action rifles can provide security, home defense, and hunting services adequately. Sales of automatic action firearms should have a delay of 2 weeks as a federal policy. Mass shootings are primarily carried out by pistols with an automatic action and rifles with an automatic action being behind them. Revolvers and shotguns have been used in mass shootings, but fatalities are usually less than those in other incidents. You could also reduce the needless regulations on guns and gun accessories in the process.
This 2 week delay would accomplish two things, first is to stop the spur of the moment person from buying a high capacity firearm and second for allowing local authorities to conduct an analysis of the purchaser. If local authorities are suspect that a certain individual of nefarious activities they can look into the matter and should be able to attain a warrant if needed.
Now gun safety courses as a requirement for gun ownership are an idea that is worth exploring as well. At a federal level this has the capacity of devaluing the second amendment and the right to bear arms. At the state and local level the concept of gun training is more viable. Training courses would help in reducing accidents and would reduce the likelihood of a gun being stolen or taken by a relative or an acquaintance which are the major sources of guns of criminals outside the drug war driven black market. Local communities can decide wether these courses are needed or not by themselves and can decide what exactly is taught in the courses.
There, I solved the gun debate.
