I’m not an expert in this area, but I’m passing on the ideas that others have had, ideas that I found convincing. They are logical and practical, and backed up with statistical analysis, and since politicians don’t even seem to be talking about them, I just want to do my part to make sure they become part of the conversation.
First of all, there’s a YouTube pundit I watch regularly who calls himself “Beau of the Fifth Column,” and he makes some very valid points. He talks about how many guns there are in America, and how, even if we could pass legislation to ban guns, actually getting them off the streets isn’t possible. As he puts it, if we seized one gun every second, day and night, until all the guns were gone, it would take about five hundred years. That’s how many guns there are in the United States.
Instead, he suggested a different approach. More than 60% of mass shooters have a documented history of domestic abuse. If we were to initiate federal legislation to deny men who beat up their wives or girlfriends the right to own guns, it could dramatically reduce the number of mass shootings. Even Republicans would have to support a bill like that, because who, aside from Ted Cruz, would vote for wifebeaters having guns?
Beau mentions that a significant number of mass shooters also have charges of animal cruelty on their record, so that could be in the bill as well. Even Republicans like dogs.
Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC also made an interesting point in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. A significant percentage of mass shooters, especially ones that shoot schoolchildren, are under 21 years old. Why is it important for an 18-year-old, like the Uvalde shooter, to be able to buy an assault rifle? Who benefits from that, other than gun manufacturers? Why not raise the age of gun ownership to 21, and save hundreds of children?
Makes sense to me.