that will be truly effective.

The two most evil words available.

we live in a country that celebrates the I and me. A lot of advertising is directed to the ego and its entitlement. Certain politicians and political parties do the same. Self-importance has replaced community.

Let me know what ego Jesus had or God embraced.

I'll await the biblical verse on pride. Then laugh.

our country has devolved into an ego worshipping mess. I do not see how it will change - it will just continue to devolve.

I am not a Christian and I don't read the Bible. My concept of God is the antithesis of ego.

Like you, I see no need for people who do not have some sort of need for a gun to have one.

I do think a system of licensing and testing and liability insurance and high taxes on the gunpowder, etc will have an effect.

I think that we will now embark upon this path.

I would love to see all guns gone off the face of the earth. But there are actual uses for them. In the rural west we have rattlesnakes and injured farm animals that need to be put down humanely. Predators attacks and some people do hunt....

But realistically, I think that we will see a system similar to motor vehicle registration and licensing that will be constructed over the next five years that will begin to make a difference.

I also think that there will be a change in the allowing of the media to make famous for one minute even the names of the people who commit these crimes.

I think we will change now. That is my strong feeling and I was pessimistic about this for most of my life.

Such a system would be very very costly to set up- and a complete compliance mess. It would need a massive diversion in law enforcement resources. Canada found this out the hard way. Not to mention the high taxes and liability insurance might be struck down by the court system (depending on how strict they were).

I could see something lesser coming into being- maybe a magazine limitation and a major overhaul of our background check system.

and we will go this route. And why would the court strike down the taxes and the assumption of liability?

What other product sold is not subject to product liability laws and taxations that pay for their "cost" to society?

The time has passed, there are way more people against the idea of non licenses people having access to these weapons than for them.

Canadians views on guns are closer to that of the UK than the U.S..

Court could strike down a tax if it could be considered a "burden". Remember, this is a constitutionally protected product you are talking about. Different rules.

BTW- Canada just scrapped their national gun registry over excessive costs and feasability issues

I'm not saying your proposals don't have merit- I'm just saying they are not realistic. Who would administer the licensing system? How would you gain compliance? Does such a system actually have a net beneficial affect?

There is very little consensus on the answers. There are quite a good amount of studies published on this topic that come to all different conclusions.

it says "well regulated militias" those are pretty clear words there.

Something needs to be done and most people I know favor a system that is the same as the one we use for motor vehicles. It is all perfectly feasible to put in place. How did we get the motor vehicle system into place? How about flying airplanes or operating forklifts. Rules, regulations, etc. I do not see the problem.

We just have to do it.

it is also been held by the supreme court that it protects the right to possess a handgun for home defense. Personal opinions aside, thats the reality we are in. D.C. V. Heller

Also, do you realize that when motor vehicles started being regulated like they are today, the per capita car ratio was alot less than the per capita gun ratio? the key is that we got our motor vehicle laws in place before cars became common place. There are 300 million guns in this country as of right now - The cat is out of the bag on this one. as of this moment there is really no way to find out who owns guns in this country so you are essentially starting from scratch. Do you think that is going to be an easy task in a country of 300 million people? Who is going to pay for it? Who is going to enforce it? Resources are finite- so they will have to come from some where. Cops will have be taken from other places and put on special "gun regulation enforcement" teams- which will mean you will have less police to answer 911 calls. What about places like alaska where they don't have even enough state police officers to go visit areas on a YEARLY basis- how do you expect them to implement such regulation there? Federal Law enforcement?- they are already cash strapped and manpower strapped.

the product can be taxed, regulated etc.

It is not out of the bag at all. There are plenty of things that can and need to be done.

Better get with the program and come up with some ways to do it- join in or be left out.

the two most common being collection and home/self defense.

I don't buy into the whole "to protect us from the government" theory.

My personal reasons for owning a gun are collection and home defense. I collect old military rifles and handguns.

But I'm actually hopeful that sensible viewpoints will at long last prevail on this.

Most people want to get serious about background checks. Speak up and keep thinking of new ways to solve problems.

This is exactly what I have been thinking and saying these past two days. I don't want to hear any more arguments about how meaningful gun control legislation will never pass, or that there are too many of these weapons in existence already, so it won't matter. I don't want to hear about how an assault weapons ban wouldn't have prevented this. I don't want to hear all the caliber-naming rants of the gun lovers and their specious arguments. None of it matters. We have to do something--anything---because we have to take the first step toward making this country in which we live a better, more rational, more humane, more intelligent, less violent place. Even if only one life is saved by this action.

Being hopeless about it is just an excuse for inaction. We can certainly get a renewal of the assault weapons ban. It's not that hard. It's not hopeless. Who would have thought ten years ago that gays would be serving openly in the military, that many states would allow same-sex marriages, that DOMA is about to be repealed. No one in a million years would have thought that possible. But because people came out, because they marched each year, because they garnered their economic and political power, because they sent lobbyists to Washington, because they worked within the system to leverage their influence, things did change. And they changed quickly.

It doesn't matter--all those things you mentioned. We have to do this and we will do it, if we want to live with ourselves and not be ashamed of our country.

and you're right. Pointing to same-sex marriage is a great example. Do you think the AWB or any gun legislation will get through the House as it is? I suspect that this might be an issue that can drive change in the short term.

we still have to do it. And then do it again. And do it again. Until it passes. Even if this is only a symbolic gesture. Because it will be a symbol that, while we may still always have violence in this country, that we don't CONDONE it. That we don't enable it. That we don't turn our backs on it. We have to make a simple statement that we are better than this, that we are smarter than this.

the AWB is a symbol and that is all. It would require a huge amount of political capital and in the end will not make much of a difference.

If you are going to push gun control, atleast push something that has a good chance of being effective. Remember, not every big problem needs a big solution