If we really wanted to reduce gun crimes...

 
We're taking an unprecedented departure from the usual frivolity this week to focus on an issue that hasn’t affected most of us directly…yet.

What if we could have an honest, adult, mature conversation about reducing gun violence in the United States? What if we could dispense with the slogans, the accusations, and the impossible demands and just discuss the things we can do to diminish this uniquely American scourge? What if, instead of simply dusting off the tirades we used last time, we figured out a way to reduce the number of next times?

Let’s give it a try, shall we? And we could begin by agreeing to be governed by reality. So, first, a few realities to define our conversation.

1. Nobody is going to repeal the Second Amendment. As is the case with the Electoral College, the bar for approval is simply too high to win approval in 34 states. Whatever merits you think repeal does or doesn’t have, it's not going to happen. Move on.
2. We cannot harden every target. There are roughly a half million schools, churches, grocery stores, parks and other sites where people congregate and mass shooters like to visit, and many of those locations, like parks and playgrounds, are outdoors.
   
3. Nobody is going to take guns from law-abiding citizens. Like the idea of capturing and deporting 12 million illegal aliens, there isn’t enough money and manpower to confiscate 400 million guns from 80 million households.
   
4. Criminals will break the law.  Well, yeah, that’s why they’re called criminals. The argument that we shouldn’t have gun laws because criminals will break them is the same as saying we shouldn’t have any laws about anything because, well, criminals.
   
5. No solution will be 100% effective. A border wall won’t stop all illegal immigration, a vaccine will not prevent all infections, armed guards will not prevent all bank robberies…the list is endless.
   
6. No constitutional right is unlimited. We can’t shout fire in a crowded theater and we cannot own missile launchers, but maybe we can all be happy anyway.
7. Laws will always be applied differently in different jurisdictions. Some prosecutors will go hard on one crime and easy on another, which has always been the case.
   

So, if we recognize these realities, where do we go from here? A few suggestions.

First, let’s agree that law abiding citizens will continue to be able to buy guns. I don’t happen to own a gun, but I have no problem with my neighbor having a weapon for his/her protection. Even if I had a problem with it, they have a right to bear arms and it’s none of my business. Anyway, the whole point of this conversation is to stop criminals, not law-abiding citizens.

So, how to reduce gun crimes without infringing on the rights of non-criminal types?

1. Step one: raise the age of gun ownership to 21, and that should apply to any gun, not just long guns.
   
2. Use of guns by people under the age of 21 must be under the supervision of a licensed, trained instructor. That would apply for military recruits, ROTC members, and kids on their first hunting trip with mom. If you’re going to teach your kid/student/recruit how to handle a gun, you should be required to get trained first.
3. Parents should be personally liable for any damages/crimes committed by their kids with guns, just as is the case if their kids have a beer party when the folks are out of town, or when the kids have a car accident, etc. If you leave the guns out for the kids to play with them, whatever they do is on you.
4. Straw buyers and dealers who sell guns illegally should be guilty as co-conspirators in any crime committed with a gun they sell. If a straw buyer sells a rifle to a kid who shoots up a school, or a handgun to a gang banger who smokes a rival, that straw buyer should be on the hook with the shooter.
   
5. Limit clips to 10 bullets. If someone is breaking into your home and you need more than ten shots to repel them, 15 or 20 probably won’t help.
6. Background checks should be required for all gun purchases, including sales at gun shows and cousins selling to each other. Yeah, it’s a nuisance, but it's not an infringement, and we can’t prevent the bad guys from getting guns if we don’t check everyone. As an added benefit, the waiting period to complete the check could give at least a few hotheads time to cool off and reconsider.
   

 
You’d never know it from reading all the slogans online, but these commonsense steps should be acceptable, even desirable, to a huge majority of our fellow citizens. We’re not going to stop all gun crimes, but we could make some progress if we started acting like mature, reasonable adults who had an interest in reducing the carnage.
 
IMO.
 

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