Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis
But the elephant in the room for the US is how do you actually decrease the total number of guns out there? Producing less is nice, but that just prevents new guns from getting to market. What about the existing guns out there? I'm guessing but its not unrealistic to believe gun owners in the US have somewhere around 35-40 million guns. How exactly do you get rid of all those? This is where this discussion gets tricky, because as has been mentioned, people who have guns will not give them up unless they are of course "Out of their cold dead hands"
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There are a lot more guns in the US than 35-40 million. The real number is closer to 270 million:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/...34893820070828
You make a very valid point though. The only option would be to encourage people to turn the guns in and require by law that they do. You'd probably get a sizeable amount turned in. Giving law enforcement the right to seize any gun they come across would go a long way too.
As for the rest, the life of a gun is not unlimited. You'd have to strongly control the parts and repair of guns. Guns require regular maintenance to remain useable. Even then the parts like the barrel and firing pins will eventually wear out.
It could take 50 years, but eventually you'd see considerably less guns.