Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
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. |
My wacky solution would be to outlaw concealed firearms, and institute a tasers for guns trade-in-program (combined with a taser education program). While we'll still hear the occasional case where it still results in a fatality, it would probably decrease accidental deaths, suicides, and homicides by a massive amount if all (or even a majority) of concealed weapons in the US were replaced with tasers.
Won't happen for several reasons, ranging from gun rights advocates, to suspicion of the devices by users, to the sheer cost of making available tens of millions of tasers to the public. There's also the potential of a tasering epidemic, where the non-lethal aspect of the weapon means that people use it much more readily than they would use a firearm.