Good question, having more people ask it would be an excellent start. How about a ban on assault and high capacity weaponry? What about a ban on using weapons in public places, in other words the use of guns is restricted to shooting clubs and in areas designated for hunting.
I'm a Brit' who's never even seen a gun in all my 51 years so I know I don't have the answers. America needs to have and adult dialogue and sort it's own problem out before it leaps the Atlantic...
Excellent responses.
In regards to the ban on using weapons in public places except shooting clubs, that is already illegal just about everywhere. Now there are some places where it's legal to carry weapons openly in public places. Banning that, I have no problem with, and I think most liberal and moderate conservatives would feel the same way. It's only the most extreme of the extremists that think open carry is a good idea.
On to the ban on assault and high capacity weaponry. The only reason I balk at that is because I know how guns work. And I know how politicians work. They ban things like barrel shrouds and pistol grips which do nothing for how deadly a gun is. They limit magazines to 10 rounds, not realizing that it takes maybe a day's worth of practice to learn how to eject and insert a new magazine in 1-2 seconds efficiently. I don't think a ban on assault and high-capacity weapons would be effective in curtailing violence.
I remember the last Assault Weapons Ban...all the features they banned were cosmetic. It basically boiled down to, "If your rifle is semi-automatic, it can't have a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds, can't have a pistol grip, a barrel shroud, a threaded barrel..." The guns that were legal shot the same bullets at the same rate of fire, but just looked different. And like I said, the magazine issue isn't going to prevent crime or mass killings when all it takes is a second or two to swap an empty magazine with a full one.
Banning all guns will help prevent the severity and frequency of rampage killings. But it won't prevent violent crime or inner city gun violence. Those guys already have the guns and are already breaking the law.