I am not looking for "We needs armed good guys!" or "Ban all privately owned guns!".
I am looking for actual, workable things that can be done to prevent the kinds of tragedies we have seen in the last week.
For conservatives, the time for Thoughts & Prayers is over. If you won't come up with solutions, someone else will. If the population is afraid, they will surrender their freedoms for a sense of safety. You have to do something.
For liberals, the knee-jerk reaction of banning guns is not a viable answer. **** party lines. This is about a balance of safety and individual freedom (especially the freedom to defend ourselves).
So what are the answer(s)?
The notion that a fearful population “will surrender their freedoms for a sense of safety” fails as a slippery slope fallacy, nothing but baseless demagoguery.
And ‘liberals’ don’t advocate for ‘banning’ guns, ‘kneejerk’ or otherwise.
Otherwise, there needs to be an acknowledgement and understanding of the fact that measures can be taken having nothing to do with the regulation of firearms.
We must also understand that this is a complex problem, that there is no ‘one solution,’ that no one measure or policy will be a ‘panacea’ for all gun crime and violence, and that because a given measure may not stop all gun crime and violence doesn’t mean that measure is ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ or should be opposed.
Moreover, we must accept the difficult truth that American society is uniquely violent, where violence is perceived as a legitimate means of conflict resolution, violence intricately woven into the fabric of American culture; this is why comparing the United States to other Western democracies is pointless, and why firearm laws and measures in those countries won’t work in the United States.
I wish I had a solution to the problem, but I don’t; but I don’t agree that we’re helpless to do nothing.
Although I don’t have a solution to the problem, I do know what will not work, and that which I oppose:
Banning firearms designated as assault weapons will not work.
Restricting magazine capacity will not work.
Registration requirements will not work.
Training and licensing requirements other than the carrying of concealed weapons won’t work.
I will oppose the above accordingly.