Gun Violence in America

How do you enforce universal background checks for private sales?

If federal law prohibited certain fire arms and state law permitted them the federal government could conceibably send in federal troops to enforce federal law.. This is the most famous example of use of federal troops to enforce federal law:

If federal law allows certain fire arms but the state prohibits them I guess those enforcing the state law would be commiting a federal crime.

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Yeah, I suppose so. But, $5,200 for an unemployed 18 year old is amazing to me.

Yeah, but after the mortgage crisis, nothing would surprise me.

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Stiff penalties on the seller as a deterrent, particularly if the gun is later used in a crime and the background check wasn’t performed properly.

Make it cheap and easy so that honest sellers will find compliance the path of least resistance.

There will always be a black market though. Really no getting around that.

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A couple is not enough. Say we decide to lock people up permanently for deeming them unfit for society (very dangerous proposition imo, we have our own shitty history with this), how many of the past 200 mass shootings would be stopped? I’m guessing no more than 10. Is that good enough for us?

Very much this. When people realize there’s no punishment, or the punishment is relatively inconsequential, they’ll ignore whatever laws are in place that inconvenience them.

Corporations learned this a long time ago. Financial institutions practically treat it as a cost of doing business.

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I mean, one mass shooting is one too many. But that’s not achievable.

We can talk pie in the sky fantasy stuff that will never ever happen and continue to have mass shootings at the current rate, or we can look at more realistic things that will not solve the problem but will reduce the quantity.

Don’t let the perfect stand in the way of the good.

Are they white Americans? Then no - it’s an infringement on our rights.

Are they terrorists - or even worse, illegal immigrants? Absolutely, how can we possibly let another innocent (white) American get killed by a dirtbag sleazeball like that?

I agree. I just don’t think mental illness is what’s driving mass shootings. I think hatred is. Jealousy, self-hate, internalized homophobia, bullying, relationship issues, etc.

I think this is probably the single biggest factor in a person deciding that they’d like to go out and kill a bunch of people and our abysmal mental health care is partly to blame.

But it’s a complex problem and will require a complex series of solutions. And it will never be totally ā€œsolvedā€, just made rarer.

How does the government locate the seller in the case of a private sale?

This is absolute fantasy. The BLM march to protect their constitutional rights. The Jan 6 coup attempt crowd believed they were protecting the nation and the constitution. Here’s a list of 6 times the US military was used against US citizens. 6 Times the Military Was Used for Riot Control in the US | Military.com

This ignores the nature of modern military tactics and technology. Violent uprising of the citizens will kill lots of people, destroy infrastructure, and ravage the economy but do little to wrest control of the government from those that control the government and the military.

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They won’t always be able to. But they are able to find lots of criminals who are trying to conceal their identities.

And neither had the military on their side. I didn’t click the link, but I’m guessing those didn’t either. Not remotely comparable.

100% federal excise tax on all gun and ammunition sales. Use the proceeds for mental health , police, penitentiary, victim relief funds, etc.

10 years in federal prison for failure to collect and remit the tax and life time prohibition on owning or selling guns after release from prison.

Also if a gun you own is used in a crime you should be financially liable and such debts should not be discharable in bankruptcy.

My own theory crafting…one that probably is least offensive to the right and acceptable to the left (for now), is honoring the responsibility of gun ownership, with severe punishment if that honor is violated.

You can own guns, but you best keep them secured. Do not let kids touch them, do not private sell them. If the gun is stolen, report immediately. If any gun is traced back to you, punishment will be severe.

If your kid is able to steal it, or use it, you will be severely punished.
If you privately sell your gun, and it is traced back to you, you will be severely punished.
If your gun is stolen and you don’t report it, you will be severely punished.

Heck, move the entire department tracking every movement in the war on drugs to tracking every movement in guns, and I think we’ll have some success.

I would continue to allow private sales, but require background checks, as I mentioned.

Mostly agree though.

Gun Violence Prevention and Safe Communities Act of 2018 (2018; 115th Congress H.R. 5103) - GovTrack.us.

It’s been tried. No chance of ever passing as long as there is the filibuster.

I’m sure it’s been tried but Republicans who say nothing can be done about it prove the point by actively doing nothing about it.

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