[August]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Of course no law will restrict criminals by definition. I think it follows that if no-one can get guns, it will be harder for criminals to acquire them. Making guns prohibitively expensive (including effort and risk, not just money) for criminals
would have a great effect on the numbers of guns on the country.

Perhaps slightly more difficult, but you're talking about a country with 5 thousand miles of land borders and millions of unregistered and untraceable guns already in the country, a significant percentage of them already in criminal hands, so you're talking years if not decades for this plan to have an effect.

Meanwhile law abiding people who have a real need to keep a firearm for defensive purposes will be either unable to afford one or unable to cut through the red tape and those 2 million instances where a gun in the hands of a victim prevented a crime from happening turn out differently making the violent crime rate skyrocket.

I know it's just one method, and that criminals set on violence will find another way, but can you think of a more powerful or destructive means that isn't already illegalised?

I can think of no more effective means by which a victim can stop an attacker than a gun. Anything less makes it a test of physical strength, one that the weaker among us will almost always loose.

I agree, it's not a solution. Removing guns from society won't stop crime, but it will stop school shootings, drive-by shootings etc. not totally of course, but if harsh enforcement and vigorous pursuit of arms traffickers was brought into play, the spread of illegal guns could be fought hard.

I disagree, especially with drive-by shootings. Gang bangers already have plenty of guns and they won't be giving them up just because it means they're addding one more crime to the many they're already committing. IMO, the bolded part of your paragraph is the only thing that could work, but I think it would require a level of "harshness and vigorous pursuit" so great as to literally turn this country into a war zone, not to mention forever alienating a large percentage of it.

The root causes of the social problem of violent crime must be investigated. I think the symptom of gun violence is serious enough to warrant treatment as well.

If the 20,000 gun control laws already on the books have not been effective in dealing with the symptom of gun violence what benefit would adding gun control law number 20,001 have? Really Dude, I understand that you believe in what you are advocating however piling more restrictions on our freedoms is not the way to do it.