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Guns: Here is one writer’s idea. Can anyone disagree with this as a starting point?

Universal background checks. This means a National Instant Criminal Background Check for every buyer of every firearm. Last July, Pew Research Center found that 85 percent of Americans — 88 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Republicans — favored making background checks mandatory for private gun sales and sales at gun shows. Those are Mom and Apple Pie numbers. An earlier poll by Frank Luntz found that a 74 percent majority of past and present NRA members favored expanded background checks.
Ban the bump stock used in Las Vegas. The bump stock turns a semiautomatic weapon into an automatic weapon, which already is banned. In a poll last year, a majority of registered voters wanted the device banned — 79 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Republicans.
Deny guns to patients diagnosed mentally ill. A HuffPost/YouGov poll in 2014 showed that 54 percent to 23 percent of Americans wanted states to confiscate guns owned by people diagnosed with mental illness. There should be a review process to restore their rights after they recover.
Deny guns to suspected terrorists. Those on a watch list, who currently can buy guns, must be stopped. A method to restore rights must be included.
Age 21 to buy any gun. Under federal law, you must be 21 to buy a handgun. Raise to 21 the age to buy a rifle. It is lethal, too.
One gun purchase a month. That will slow the multiple straw purchaser illegally buying for someone not eligible to own.

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/stu_bykofsky/nra-second-amendment-australia-great-britain-6-gun-law-changes-stu-bykofsky-20180220.html

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Graylight · 51-55, F
It's a good start. It's hardly obscure thinking, by the way. The majority of Americans support regulation measures just like this; the efforts at change are being killed on Capitol Hill.

But background checks, while they'd weed out a meaningful number of potential buyers, won't catch everyone. Most people who kill are doing so for the first time and without serious previous criminal history. Mental health screenings are good, too, but those with minor disorders might be stigmatized while those with serious mental illness can still pass through. And again, while shootings like this latest place the bright hot spotlight on mental illness, it's also vastly disproportionate in its occurrence and reflection of reality.

The problem is still, as it has been, firearms and access to them.
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jackjjackson · 61-69, M
You’re dealing with a bag of rocks don’t waste your time 😉 @AnnieMal
Graylight · 51-55, F
@AnnieMal The argument comparing firearms to other daily objects is getting old and tired. A car is built for many things and has many uses. The same applies to knives two 2x4s, to driveway pavers. Firearms are constructed for the sole purpose of destruction, for taking life.

No, guns don't kill people. People kill people. With guns.
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Graylight · 51-55, F
@AnnieMal You fail to grasp the logic presented.
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Graylight · 51-55, F
@AnnieMal As a United States citizen, I promise I have a detailed and thorough understanding of the complexities of the American culture and the way it shapes society and behavior. But the expertise of an outsider is always welcome.
Yes, there are unique societal and cultural issues the US has to deal with. But Australia's culture wasn't unlike ours when it decided to enact new gun laws. Cultures and ideologies evolve, perspectives change, behavior gets altered. In the meantime, lack of access to the weapon at issue is likely to have a positive impact. Or is your country privy to statistics and studies not yet released to the US?
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Graylight · 51-55, F
@AnnieMal I appreciate your dual citizenship, but it's impossible for you to be steeped from birth in the primary American culture. There hasn't been a mass shooting in Australia since 1996. That's what everyone's up in arms about right now. Taking guns away works. And I do know people from Australia and many other countries where weapons are highly regulated or banned, and not one of them has ever expressed regret. My own person experience, I understand, but again, if your driveway ices over, you don't go out and throw more water on it. When people are dying by bullets, you don't go out preaching guns.
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jackjjackson · 61-69, M
You’re doing marvelously but don’t expect logic to work with a hater like this one. @AnnieMal
Graylight · 51-55, F
@AnnieMal but who decides who is mentally competent? What constitutes a crime serious enough to prevent gun ownership? What's adequate training and who has it?

Look, I don't want anyone's gun I just want them regulated in proportion necessary to keep them from being unwarrantedly dangerous. I don't believe that means increasing their numbers. If it did we'd be the safest nation on Earth.

As for you, Jack, you rarely offer anything of substance to a conversation, and when you do immediately begin to waffle. You are a pot-stirrer.
jackjjackson · 61-69, M
As for you I don’t waste my time debating those with bags of rocks for brains. No offense intended of course. Just saying how it is. @Graylight
Graylight · 51-55, F
@jackjjackson Like too many of your ilk, you confuse what is with what you'd like to be true. In cordially invite you to go head to head on anything and we can let the public decide.
jackjjackson · 61-69, M
Pick a subject and state your position madam. I’m open minded. @Graylight
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Graylight · 51-55, F
@AnnieMal You know, right, that this isn't just a second amendment versus ban all guns issue. There's a chasm of grey in between.