Posted without comment.

[jeffreyi]

Well, one little comment. What about my constitutional rights?


https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/1997/Following-Recent-Injury-CPSC-Reissues-Warning-Lawn-Darts-Are-Banned-and-Should-Be-Destroyed

[Effete Snob]

1. Lawn Darts are a good answer to the "how are you going to enforce it" idiots

There is a right wing talking point about how it would be impractical to go around and confiscate illegal guns.

That talking point ignores reality. The reality is that no confiscation is needed.

Do you remember the SWAT teams that fanned out in suburbia to confiscate millions of lawn darts?

No, you don't. Because there weren't any.

They became illegal to sell, so they disappeared from stores. They also disappeared from garage sales. Nobody brought them to the company picnic, etc..

Do some people still have them? Sure. Probably. There are probably a lot gathering dust and rust in garages and basements, and nobody bothers with them.

Same thing with semi-auto weapons. Nobody has to go confiscate them. But, if they can't be sold, transferred, used on the firing range, displayed or carried in public, etc., then it becomes harder to "blend in" with them. If the cops are called to someone's house for a domestic disturbance, and one is out in plain view - busted. If someone is pulled over for a traffic violation and one is in the back seat - busted.

Their numbers will go down through sheer attrition and due to the fact that nobody has to wait around to find out if that guy toting one is law abiding or not.

[genxlib]

2. I agree that confiscation is not practical

But the benefits of making them strictly regulated is still substantial

I posted this list in a similar thread last week on the benefits of just having them under a strict special license to own.

All these things are gained

-no new sales without the strict requirements. Which alone would have stopped Uvalde

-no open carry since they won't be legal

-no taking to a range since there could be serious problems for ranges and dealers

-could restrict ammo sales to only licensed individuals with stiff penalties for any ghost buying.

-automatic red-flag law since they could be confiscated when unregistered.

-no more stupid gun culture bullshit like instagram and xmas cards for those unwilling to comply. Clearly, that alone will discourage a lot of the small penis assholes since they won't get to act like tough guys.

-no more openly running around in the woods with your tough-guy militia buddies since the ATF could track that better.

-if caught, both the illegal guns and the owners would be out of circulation for awhile

-over time, the number of guns would hopefully decrease. As they say, the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago. The second best time is now.

Yes, a lot of ARs would stay illegal but that is true of any ban as well. But for me, if they are required to stay off the grid they seem a lot less dangerous to me. It won't stop everything but it certainly gives us a lot more control of the situation.

[gratuitous]

3. Also, there is no 100% solution

But I'm okay with cutting the chances of someone, say, walking into a school and annihilating a couple dozen students and teachers* because the prospect is just so horrific it would shock the conscience of even the most fervent Second Amendment partisan. If we cut the number of massacres with semi-automatic rifles by 10%, it would be worth it.

*Which I know will never, ever happen, but it's still a possibility, and we shouldn't have to live with even that possibility, however remote.