According to the Gun Violence Archive, 21,782 Americans have been killed in shootings halfway through 2023.
I know that's not 100% mass shootings, but that's still a stunningly bleak number. Rounding up from the .97 that's five human lives every hour of 2023 up to July.
And those shouldn't count? Do you have any idea how much easy access to guns increases suicides? Many, many suicidal people would still be alive without the easy access to guns in the US. It's one of the easiest and painless ways to kill yourself.
It's bad, but after watching over a million Americans die of COVID while (seemingly) half or more of the country refused to take - or often even acknowledge - the most basic of preventative measures... Well, I just don't know any longer.
Shootings are far less deadly, and that's a much more murky subject as there are plenty of justifiable reasons to own a gun. You also have to wonder how many deaths are Darwin Awards, or justified self defense... It's just an incredibly complicated subject compared to "hey guys, let's wear masks."
Obviously nothing can be done to change this. There is zero things the government can do to stop gun violence. It must just be an inherent part of life
Here's an idea: all new guns must only be operable by the person who purchased them after going through rigorous background checks. This will be done using fingerprint technology. The gun simply will not fire unless it is in the right hands.
It's not really that easy unfortunately. You can essentially 3D print gun parts now, and you can buy parts separately to make kits pretty easily to get around any kind of restrictions like that.
Just a random thought, what if instead of going after guns, the administration came down on high-caliber ammo instead?
Like, just put heavy barriers on the production of 9mm and higher-sized ammunition to the extent the only bullets available in the market for the general public are .22 LR and below, which are less lethal in general. If not anything else it would bring down gun deaths at least.
Their main argument is that there are more than enough guns in circulation already and a ban on them would only affect the "good guys" while the bad guys will get their guns illegally. Well, those guns are useless without their cartridges, and at some point the country will run out of them if no new ones are produced.
As a bonus, choking out the lethal-ammo supply chain won't even violate anyone's 2A rights.
Two major issues here. One ammunition is an arm and protected by the 2A. You know that people can just cast bullets out of lead like people did for centuries before the popularization of the cartridge right?
How effective would the casted bullets and cartridges be in general? Is it very easy to make quality ones that won't spoil the gun itself?
How easy would it be to scale them up? I confess, I don't actually know much.
Also, does implementing production quota limits amount to violating 2A? Isn't the amendment about securing the rights of the public to own firearms, and not securing manufacturers from regulations?