I would like to see harsher penalties, and actual ENFORCEMENT of those laws.......you simply cannot make be believe the gun control politicians are serious about "common sense" gun control when those cities with strict gun control are playing catch and release with weapons violators.
You wont slam the criminals with the hardest possible sentences, yet you DO want to make it more difficult for the law abiding to own firearms.
Someone explain that logic?
No, I do not believe the politicians shoving more gun control laws into the sidewalk really give a rats backside about public safety, yet are the first ones to scream 'If we can save just one childs life" to promote those new restrictions.....and when we balk at those restrictions, they are just as quick to scream "Why do you like seeing children killed?"
Really?
All those folks that oppose "three strike" laws as being 'arbitrary" and unduly affecting minorities........how do you feel about a two strike law for weapons violators? felons with firearms, use of firearms in commission of crimes, straw purchase and sales?
laws have never been a barrier to criminals getting weapons......so, make those crimes more painful....no more early release for good behavior, over crowded jails, etc.
Stop legislating, and start enforcing.
My apologizes for overlooking this post, which a few people have pointed me toward. It got lost in the sea of NOPE WE CAN'T DO NOTHING, DURR.
I do agree with focusing on enforcing the laws currently on the books as a starting point. For one thing, America has long had a problem where we want to solve problems by adding another rule or passing another law. How do we know if a new law would work if we can't enforce the old ones?
Three Strikes laws...those are based on this idea that we can punish our way out of the problem of gun violence. While harsh penalties must be handed down to those who commit violent crimes, this alone cannot solve the root problems, including the fact that way too many men feel that violence is the fallback answer for solving a problem. Yes, I went there, and no, I'm not taking that back. Maybe we would be wise to consider why, decade after decade, the overwhelming majority of those who commit violent crimes are men. Maybe we need to be teaching our boys from a very young age better techniques for nonviolent, nonaggressive conflict management.
Another problem with Three Strikes laws is jail overcrowding. People tend to forget that housing a prisoner is
expensive. As unpopular a sentiment it may be, even the most violent of criminals are humans too, and humans have basic needs--food, water, health, social needs, etc. Meeting these needs is not cheap. The more prisoners we have, the more we spend on this. And the United States has by far the world's largest prison population, so, you do the math.
But what laws
can we pass? Let's talk about straw purchases. I would hope that cracking down on straw purchases might be one opportunity for bipartisan consensus. What about a massive, undercover sting operation by local, state, and federal governments to crack down on straw purchases? I am under no illusion that such an operation would end the practice of straw purchasing, but who knows if might not give potential straw purchasers second thought.
There's much more to say, but I think what I have above is more than enough to chew on, so I'll pause here for the moment.
