....a couple of ground rules first:
1. No agency, law or papal bull is going to remove 310,000,000 firearms from Americans, it isn't going to happen.
2. Likewise, the 2nd Amendment will not be removed. You can regulate commerce, but the precedent of removing one of the ten Bill of Rights is unthinkable and should be unthinkable to everyone including those who are opposed to private ownership of firearms.
Now to my recommendations:
1. Private sales of firearms should be regulated. The so-called gun show loophole does not apply to licensed dealers who are mandated to conduct background checks before selling a weapon at a show. The loophole applies to private "off-the-books" sales between individuals and should be closed. That doesn't mean that non-licensed individuals shouldn't be able to engage in commerce but it does mean that a sale goes through a licensed dealer in a manner similar to a consignment. And there should be no exceptions.
2. The mentally ill should be prohibited from owning or possessing firearms and restrictions should be placed on their use by such individuals. In addition, as in the Newton tragedy, firearms should be restricted in the homes of the mentally ill. That doesn't mean guardian and parents can't own firearms, but it does mean that they need to be stored away from the house either at a gun club or with local law enforcement where they can be checked out for use under a regulated process.
3. Military style firearms such as variants of M-4s, AK-47s, or H&K products should be classified as destructive devices much like the Striker/Street Sweeper cylinder shotgun. Their sale or transfer would be restricted but will still be allowed with an appropriate waiting period. The true collecter, such as myself, has the discipline and patience to wait the period out, the unbalanced will not.
This would be a start, but only addresses the gun issue in what should be a multi-layered approach. Other issues such as enhancing mental health services, addressing the bullying culture in grade school through HS and the better use of our data collection and analysis tools also need to be included in any solution.
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