Guns, guns, guns – Part II

Last week, I wrote about how cries for addressing “mental health” will not solve America’s crisis, promising that this week I would outline several specific suggestions that can help lessen the chance that gun crimes would happen and challenging those who prefer talking mental health over gun control to give me specific objections.

And today we hear the news of a mass shooting in a church in Texas. It is still too early to know much of anything — motive, whether or not the gun was legally or illegally obtained.  But we do know that at this time, 26 are reported dead and another 30 injured. And we know that since calls for prayers haven’t prevented this or any other shooting that concrete steps are called for.

Yes, we need better access to mental health services, improved social services and educational systems so that we have fewer disenfranchised, angry, entitled people walking around. But creating a world where the emphasis is on empathy, civic duty and how we fit into society, is to be honest very unlikely to take place, even though it is very highly warranted.

The most feasible solution is not a single solution The best way to preempt all these shootings is to attack from all sides, adopting a multipronged approach in order to reduce supply, reduce demand and reduce access.

So here’s my list. Give me actual reasons why each of these should not be adopted. And then also admit which ones you cannot logically rule out. That is, which you can support.

1.  Mandatory gun registration.

2.  Mandatory safety training.

3.  Mandatory to have a gun safe.

4.  Mandatory liability insurance, and insurance companies should require or incentivize policyholders to install gun safes and take safety classes if they are not made mandatory by law.

5.  Mandatory registration/tracking of ammo purchases, with red flags triggered when the stockpiling reaches over a certain point.

6.  Outlaw machine guns. Automatics, semi automatics, bump stocks.

7.  Federal databases shared with states.

8.  Gun manufacturers should be using fingerprint or other technology so that only owners can use the guns.

9.  Guns should have RFID chips. When pawn shops get burgled, let’s make it possible for the guns to get recovered.

10. Technology, technology, technology. Find ways to make guns safer for everyone around them. Here is one example: This Israeli developed gun lock prevents accidental shootings and notifies if others are trying to use the owner’s gun.

11. Parents who leave loaded guns where children can get to them should be charged with criminal recklessness, negligence, child endangerment and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. If a death results, negligent homicide.

12. If anyone’s legally purchased guns are not in a safe and are used in a crime committed by another who had easy access, the gun owner should be charged as an accessory to the crime the shooter commits.

13. Close the loophole for background checks, so even non-dealers and gun shows have to run them.

14. Improve background checks.

15. Fund the ATF’s National Tracing Center. (That it isn’t funded adequately or equipped with computers is crazy.)

16. Repeal the federal ban that doesn’t allow the CDC to carry out research on gun violence.

17. Allow gun and gun part manufacturers to be sued.

18. Get big business and lobbyist money out of politics (okay, that’s really wishful thinking).

If there are specific objections to any of these, share. But only if you can also admit which ones you cannot logically object to.

What would you add to this list?