The above weblink is to a Politifact article explaining some of the misinformation surrounding the latest carnage in Orlando and the anti-gun rhetoric currently bandied by all of the major news outlets. To that end, I give my take on what I would consider as an answer to gun violence in the U.S. If you haven't surmised already, I am a gun-owner and supporter of the Constitution and its current interpolation/interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.
First off, limiting the size, caliber and/or capacity for a firearm is a fool's errand. To imagine, or think, it will save lives is tantamount to buying into that email I received yesterday guaranteeing 79,000% return on a single investment. To wit, Chicago has no gun stores within its municipal limits. However, it owns the title of Murder Capitol of the U.S. T'is a terrible irony that the former would foment the latter but such are the best flayed plans of pundits and politicians.
Instead, what I can imagine is a system that allows for an instantaneous vetting system. One whereby the magnetic strip on the reverse side of a driver's license could be run through a simple go/no-go device installed at every store that sells guns and ammunition. If an individual with a codified history of mental illness, prescribed psychotropic medications, and/or any other proscription deemed by law enforcement, the vendor could just return the individual's license and inform them of their purchase limitations in said store.
Being tied into such a system, that individual's presence in a gun selling establishment could immediately be flagged for followup by law enforcement. The bugaboo comes with connecting all of the pertinent databases required for such a system to work. And honestly, the establishment of such a system would most likely become problematic as Edward Snowden has so aptly proved.
Being tied into such a system, that individual's presence in a gun selling establishment could immediately be flagged for followup by law enforcement. The bugaboo comes with connecting all of the pertinent databases required for such a system to work. And honestly, the establishment of such a system would most likely become problematic as Edward Snowden has so aptly proved.
In full disclosure, I am an on-again-off-again member of the NRA, a persistent gun owner and former shooting competitor. This also ain't my first rodeo. I've learned that gun laws, as with any law, only affect the law-abiding citizen and never the law-breaker. That being reality, shouldn't we use technology to better protect the law-abiding from the deranged, addled, radicalized and sad sick souls among us so that we may know them.
Just imagine...
Just imagine...
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