Why we fight (for gun control)

Why we fight:

•Charlotte Bacon, 6
•Daniel Barden, 7
•Rachel Davino, 29
•Olivia Engel, 6
•Josephine Gay, 7
•Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
•Dylan Hockley, 6
•Dawn Hocksprungm, 47
•Madeleine Hsu, 6
•Catherine Hubbard, 6
•Chase Kowalski, 7
•Jesse Lewis, 6
•James Mattioli, 6
•Grace McDonnell, 7
•Anne Marie Murphy, 52
•Emilie Parker, 6
•Jack Pinto, 6
•Noah Pozner, 6
•Caroline Previdi, 6
•Jessica Rekos, 6
•Avielle Richman, 6
•Lauren Rousseau, 30
•Mary Sherlach, 56
•Victoria Sotom, 27
•Benjamin Wheeler, 6
•Allison Wyatt, 6

All murdered on December 14, 2012, by a man employing his NRA-certificated training combined with an AR-15 assault rifle firing .223 high velocity rounds with "mankiller" wobble-head bullets, loaded into multiple 30-round extended magazines.

This isn't the typical way people are murdered in America. However, it is typical for massacres, most of which occur in America, & almost none in other advanced countries (the Norwegian massacre of many dozens of young liberals by a right wing extremist being a notable exception). And the Sandy Hook Elementary shooter used the firearm of choice for people who massacre: a semiautomatic assault weapon using .223 high velocity rounds in extended magazines.

Not one of the grieving parents of Newtown has called for banning or confiscating guns. They have called for banning extended magazines, making background checks universal, & coming up with a comprehensive program to stop straw purchasers/gun traffickers. And to reform how we handle crazy people.

Nothing the Sandy Hook Elementary parents want would interfere with lawful gun owners buying & keeping guns for hunting, target practice, and home defense. They WOULD put a crimp in the fantasy commando shtick that's so profitable for the gun makers.

BTW one way to simplify background checks would be a universal biometric database like India is implementing.

A baker's dozen of reasonable gun control measures

1. national biometric ID database modeled after India's, with every gun serial number attached to someone's ID

2. mandated national background check for all gun sales, private and public along with 2 week wait on all purchases

3. maximum 1 gun/month purchase for any individual

4. assault rifles banned

5. extended magazines banned

6. munition sizes over .38 caliber banned for private ownership

7. national firearms user license modeled after driver's license, with written and live firing tests

8. munitions toxic to scavenging wildlife banned

9. kits for converting semiautomatic weapons to full automatic operation banned

10. mental health standards adopted that prohibit gun ownership to people with certain mental issues that limit judgment and empathy (no, I don't think this would ban Republicans from owning guns :) )

11. Those who fail to report sales or theft of guns they own are held liable for crimes committed with those guns as accessories to those crimes 

12. Gun ownership limited to a dozen guns per individual; additional guns only allowed if they are permanently disabled

13. Personal firearms forbidden in schools, national parks, government buildings

Any responses to this list comprising a wholesale denunciation of any and all gun ownership controls will reveal the poster to be someone who lacks the mental equipment needed to be a constructive part of this conversation.

We license the ownership and use of cars because cars in the wrong hands are extremely dangerous machines. We should regulate firearms ownership for the same reasons.