[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

I believe that if anything is done, it is going to have to be done in a logical, step by step manner, and is treated as a national emergency:

1. Establish that "right to bear arms" does not include mass human killing devices like automatic weapons, or any weapon capable of becoming one.

This already exists.

2. Establish restrictions to ownership based on degrees of violent or potentially violent behavior:

a. criminal record with associated violence - ownership denied

This already exists.

b. for any demonstrated act of violence (to be defined) - ownership denied or waiting period

This already exists.

c. for reasons of mental health (to be defined) - ownership denied or waiting period

d. for reasons of social media (to be defined) - ownership denied or waiting period

Impossible to define, monitor, or control. Mental health records are private and are subject to confidentiality rules. Social media cannot be used as a reason to restrict ownership. The costs to prove an individual stated something on social media alone would be cost prohibitive.

Stiff penalties to weapon sellers for non compliance

Impossible to enforce. Weapons ownership, while protected in the constitution, is a states right thing.

The angle to take in all of this is not to control weapons. It is to control ammunition. Place taxes on ammunition so it makes it cost prohibitive to buy. Make certain rounds so expensive they make the weapons unusable. 2nd amendment is not infringed upon and you put in place a pragmatic control. Finally, serialize rounds and create a registry around the flow of ammunition. Problem solved. You'd also know when someone is buying up large amounts of ammunition and can flag those individuals for closer observation.