We have 58 dead and over 400 wounded. We do not know the why’s of the shooting. The bodies weren’t even at the morgue before the gun grabbers were pulling their normal schtick. You have insane people calling for automatic weapons to be banned (which they already are). And you can see more insanity covered at Twitchy, Hot Air, Daily Caller, and so forth, or just head to the crazy sources, like the Democratic Underground, view nutters on Twitter like Kamala Harris and Alyssa Milano, the Washington Post, and, hey, here’s Excitable Nicholas Kristoff
Preventing Mass Shootings Like the Vegas Strip Attack
After the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas, the impulse of politicians will be to lower flags, offer moments of silence, and lead a national mourning. Yet what we need most of all isn’t mourning, but action to lower the toll of guns in America.
We don’t need to simply acquiesce to this kind of slaughter. When Australia suffered a mass shooting in 1996, the country united behind tougher laws on firearms. As a result, the gun homicide rate was almost halved, and the gun suicide rate dropped by half, according to the Journal of Public Health Policy.
Funny how they keep telling us they do not want to confiscate guns then cite a situation where they confiscated most guns.
So while there’s no magic wand available, here are some steps we could take that would, collectively, make a difference:
1. Impose universal background checks for anyone buying a gun. Four out of five Americans support this measure, to prevent criminals or terrorists from obtaining guns. (we pretty much have this, and criminals don’t generally purchase guns from a gun store)
2. Impose a minimum age limit of 21 on gun purchases. This is already the law for handgun purchases in many states, and it mirrors the law on buying alcohol. (which could violate the Constitution)
3. Enforce a ban on possession of guns by anyone subject to a domestic violence protection order. This is a moment when people are upset and prone to violence against their ex-es. (In principle I agree, however, this is removing a Citizen’s Constitutional Right prior to judgement)
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4. Limit gun purchases by any one person to no more than, say, two a month, and tighten rules on straw purchasers who buy for criminals. Make serial numbers harder to remove. (how will this solve anything for the first? Nick doesn’t say. Most only need one gun. It’s illegal to make a straw purchase. A felony)
5. Adopt microstamping of cartridges so that they can be traced to the gun that fired them, useful for solving gun crimes. (there are a lot of cases for and against.)
6. Invest in “smart gun†purchases by police departments or the U.S. military, to promote their use. Such guns require a PIN or can only be fired when near a particular bracelet or other device, so that children cannot misuse them and they are less vulnerable to theft. The gun industry made a childproof gun in the 1800’s but now resists smart guns. (they are available now. Cops and military won’t use them, too unreliable and too low caliber).
7. Require safe storage, to reduce theft, suicide and accidents by children. (notice how this is all being aimed at legal gun owners, for the most part, putting the burden on us, rather than on the criminals?)
8. Invest in research to see what interventions will be more effective in reducing gun deaths. We know, for example, that alcohol and guns don’t mix, but we don’t know precisely what laws would be most effective in reducing the resulting toll. Similar investments in reducing other kinds of accidental deaths have been very effective.
As to the last, how about cracking down on criminals, which Democrats are totally against?
