I'm saying that mass shootings will continue unless Americans no longer possess any guns.
I disagree here, and it's possible to see that from what has happened in non-American countries.
There has been no need to take away all guns to prevent these kinds of shootings, and in fact this would be a silly thing to do considering that the US has cougars, bears, coyotes, wolves, and snakes.
Rather than simply banning all guns, it would work better to revoke the 2nd amendment so as to allow the Federal Government to institute a single nationwide licensing system based in the Licences already in existence at State level, but rather then having 50 different versions, just having one.
The basics of gaining a licence should be the same as Federal Law for purchasing a gun.
- 18 years of age or older
- No Felony Record
- No Mental Issues
- No Domestic Abuse convictions (allegations?)
I'd also include
- No Gun law violations
- 3 referees, 1 direct family member and 2 others
- Membership to a local gun and/or hunting club
and one from Australia....
- Citing a valid requirement to have a gun.
Having a licence would involve having all weapons keep in a secured storage when not in use, and preferably having weapons and ammo stored separately.
For those that are wanting a gun purely for sports shooting, this might be something like having a locker at their licensed gun club with the only time that they need to remove it from the club premises is for travelling to another club for shooting and/or competition.
For Hunters and those that need them for protection, they could have a gun safe at home, and would only have them outside of that when they were being used or transported for hunting or the reason they have them for protection.
For home protection, weapons allowed would be highly limited, mostly to weapons that have a slower muzzle velocity so that a house wall could prevent the projectile from passing through. High power guns would not be allowed for home protection in residential areas so as to prevent stray shots passing through multiple homes and risking hitting neighbours.
For Concealed Carry, membership to a licensed pistol club would be compulsory, with yearly testing by the club to check on their fitness to remain licensed to carry a concealed handgun.
Collectors, Movie Prop masters etc would have their own licences and regulations on whether a gun had to be disabled before being allowed.
Military style Rapid fire weapons would have their own licencing, as would machine guns such as the Bren, and Gattling, and also high power sniper style weapons such as 50 caliber rifles, and such weapons a rocket launchers and RPGs. These licenses would be issued on a purely need basis, and most likely to clubs and ranges which would allow their members to fire them at the range.
Licences would be required to be shown for all purchases of a firearm, firearm receiver, ammo, or primers.
For firearm use by non-licensed users, as long as there is no more than 4 unlicensed users to each licensed user, and any unlicensed user is being supervised at all times by a licensed user who is responsible for the unlicensed users actions, then an unlicensed user may carry and use a firearm under the same provisions of the licensed supervisor.
Finally, and this one I know certain people will hate, all firearms should be registered in a national database that the police can access with a warrant so as to search a serial number of a recovered weapon and match that weapon to the last registered owner. It should have no other search functions and to keep as many people as possible happy, it should be held and run by a non-government entity and would require a warrant and recovered firearm to access by law enforcement.
Other than this, the only real change to the law I'd like would be adding a failure to report the loss or theft of a firearm, which would stipulate that a gun owner is to report the theft or loss of a gun within 48 hours of the discovery of the loss or theft, or at the first opportune moment should they be physically unable to report during that time period.
Beyond that, strict enforcement of current laws is what is needed.
