As long as the Supreme Court decision stands that decided that the militia so prominently mentioned in the 2nd amendment has no bearing on the right to keep and bear arms, people like Jar and ICANT and Hyro will continue to feel empowered to ignore the consequences of widespread gun ownership or blame them on other factors. This does make implementation of effective gun control a tough row to hoe. I don't know how we get from where we are to where we have to be.
My suggestion is with baby steps. Outright bans on weapons won't occur in the USA like they did in the UK or Australia due to the Constitution. However, there are appropriate actions that could be taken if they were presented in a cogent and logical fashion.
From my perspective, the two big issues relating to gun violence in the USA are:
1) Insufficient background checks for gun ownership. Especially for individuals that suffer from various mental illnesses. Most Americans concur with better background checks, even many gun owners.
2) Inner city crime between gangs and overall gang violence. This one is a little harder to deal with, but some suggestions here would be:
- End the drug war. It is fueling the crime between gangs since most of that violence is related to turf wars between drug traffickers. You'll get the added bonus of mitigating the border issues as well.
- Tackle the Black Market. Most guns used by gang members are obtained illegally. Focus on that source of weapons and ammunition.
- Stiffer penalties for individuals that use a gun in the commission of a crime. Have mandatory minimum sentences for violent offenders who used guns in their crimes. And if anyone wants to know how you make room in the prisons, see my first item: end the damn drug war.
These are just my thoughts, but I think pragmatic solutions could be advocated along those lines.