such as another assault weapons ban.
Comparing the firearm violence rate in nations which do not have a constitutional right for civilians to own firearms and without the gun culture that exists in our nation is unrealistic.
Such nations have never had the number of firearm owners and the quantity of firearms that our nation has. When only a few number of people in a nation own firearms it is definitely far easier to pass laws to basically ban most all civilian ownership of such weapons and even to confiscate them.
When at least 80,000,000 people legally own firearms and there are over 300,000,0000 such weapons in a nation it is virtually politically impossible to ban and confiscate them. You also have to consider that while a firearm may be owned by a husband, his wife and children may enjoy shooting and value such weapons for self defense, hunting and target shooting. Those of age to vote may show up at the polls to protect their right to own firearms. The only aids the Republican Party as the Democratic Party is becoming viewed as the party of gun control.
It is definitely true that firearms cause tragedy. However crime statistics show that firearm violence in our nation has decreased to levels last seen in the late 1960s. Both sides of the gun control debate chose to ignore this fact as insinuating that gun violence is on the rise helps both gun sales and the gun control movement.
In m opinion it is far better to push for laws that help to ensure that firearms can be bought and owned by those who are honest, responsible, sane and trained in firearm safety. While that would not totally eliminate all firearm violence it would definitely help and would have far more effect on gun violence than banning and confiscating all rifles and shotguns including those that resemble military weapons.
If the gun control movement was actually serious about reducing firearm violence it only seems logical that they would push for banning and confiscating all handguns as handguns are the prime weapon for gun violence in our nation. That was basically tried by the organization known as Handgun Control, Inc. back in 1980 and was an abysmal failure. Handgun Control, Inc. then morphed into the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence which adopted a more incremental approach to banning the civilian ownership of firearms in our nation and turning our nation into one with gun control laws such as exist is Canada or better yet Great Britain. The Brady Campaign had far more success than Handgun Control Inc. It even managed to push the first Federal Assault Weapons Ban through Congress. That law was so unpopular and unsuccessful that it was allowed to sunset.
The choice that the gun control movement faces is if to continue the noble but futile effort of gradually eliminating gun civilian gun ownership in our nation or to try to improve our current gun laws but still allow civilians the right to own firearms including those which are called "assault weapons." I see little hope that this will happen so consequently I see little chance of our federal gun laws improving in the near future.
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