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user-inactivated  ·  4426 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Ask Hubski: So what's the solution for all the US gun problems?

    We've passed gun laws, we've made it strict, but that doesn't solve the issue-- guns will end in the hands of criminals no matter what we do through illegal means and there are legitimate reasons for gun ownership.

I just want to say, this isn't strictly true. We've banned certain specific kinds of weapons in the past (while not banning others), we've passed "gun laws" -- a recent example I can think of is this one -- but you'll notice that the act, well-meant as it may have been, expired in 2004. And it only had to do with semis.

Diving into US gun control legislation research is vomit-inducing -- here and here for a couple more resources -- and the overwhelming conclusion to be drawn is this: we are not strict on guns in this country. Not at all. This is the opposite of what you said. Take the Firearm Owners Protection Act. It's basically a wholehearted defense of free guns in this country, as based on the thoroughly outdated Second Amendment. (And I mean, read the name of the damn law.)

    No matter your politics, Reagan's measures against mental institutions dealt a devastating blow the country has not recovered from.

Yeah, I agree. He is responsible for this, however, which includes background checks. (Considering he took a bullet from a gun bought at a pawn shop and fired by an insane man who was not background checked at all, I guess it fits.) There was also this, which might be considered slightly "preventive."

The bottom line is that the NRA is one of the two most powerful independent lobbyists in the country, and any time it starts to lose an argument it can cite the Bill of Rights. Until one of those two things changes, nothing meaningful about our gun legislation will change.

There are a couple of really good West Wing episodes about this, incidentally.