Seriously. Has anyone tried blaming guns, and not people? Sure, we see folks on both sides of the debate scream about “it’s the guns” and “it’s the people”. But neither side is willing to entertain how blaming the guns would work.
Here’s some core items i’m confident in :
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USA DOES have a gun violence issue.
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Guns DO make the act of harming living creatures more effective. literally what they are designed for.
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Same guns that make crimes easier, also make a person needing to defend their life… more effective at self defense
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It’s not the AR nor the gun that’s causing the damage. it’s a piece of metal, anywhere from 35+ grains (usually 50-150) … flying at high velocity (anything over 500feet per second), in a semi-auto rate of fire (ie roughly 600 rounds per minute)…. out of a metal tube.
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they are weapons of war. A rock is also a weapon of war. there’s no need to pretend these weapons are not dangerous and lethal. the debate is around whether people should have access to such tools.
Now onto the points of how it would work out. Mind you, my personal views are in support of 2A, and that this wouldn’t work… but I realize we have to work together in society, so I’m going to attempt to explain what the gun-regulators would have to overcome if you wanted to “blame the guns”.
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USA has roughly 400Million guns in circulation now, with roughly 40% of the population owning and supporting firearms ownership.
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This means that any law restricting said firearms, will quickly get voted out, as you’d lose 40% of the voter base – instantly. You’d have to have a perfect candidate that could EASILY win the rest of the population, as 40-45% would be off the table instantly.
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This also means, that within 4 years, the law/ban would get repealed quickly, and you’d be back to square one.
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You’d have to also address the guns already in circulation, all within the next election term…. and fast enough to ensure that statistics prove you were right in that shootings did stop…. prior to the law getting reversed.
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This would be an even bigger challenge. most of the semi-auto “assault” rifles folks refer to… cost around $1k-5k. We can average it out to $2k just for the rifle (excluding optics and accessories).
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most folks will NOT give this up. you’ll find that half the population suddenly had a tragic boating accident.
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There’s roughly 30 million AR’s now in circulation in the USA. if you wanted a “gun buyback” as you call it (otherwise known as property confiscation) – you’d be stuck with a $60Billion bill JUST to cover the costs and expenses. then you’d have to add logistics (which is usually double the action cost), plus HR costs and salaries of folks enforcing this. you’d be looking at a tax bill approaching roughly $0.5Trillion… just to get the AR’s. then you have the other Semi auto rifles and weapons.
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this could easily go into the multiple trillions of $.
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all within the time limit of prior to the next election.
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cause if you mess this up, it’ll get reversed right away and it was all for naught.
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Next problem is the culture. Americans, each of them, tend to like to think of themselves as the hero of the story, and as thus, breed and educate their children that “one man can make a difference”. sounds good right? Well it’s also why these mass shootings keep occuring. This diverse, and perverse way of thinking – bred by the history of the country – which has repeatedly told each and every American; they are “special” while their mommy kisses their bum…. well that diversity gets really pesky when you try to get everyone to have a similar view and accomplish something. Diversity is both a strength and a plague in America….
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still, the fact remains, you’d have to somehow get every american to agree with this… and admit they are NOT the hero, and they do NOT get to be masters of their future. You’d need a massive culture shift that got americans to accept they have zero control of their fate, and to just hand over their rights to the government…. you know the one they don’t trust.
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This cuts at the core of the “why do you NEED xyz” debate. they’ve told you why they need it. YOU chose not to agree. you have that right. but If you want to go down the ugly path of regulation… you’re going to have to DEAL with what they expressed. If you just seize property… well you’ll have riots and backlash instantly… not to mention point 1 above… instant vote count against you and reversal of law.
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How do you make these folks feel safe for THEIR interests about personal safety and government oversight.
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Again, you say “what can a gun do against nuclear rockets?!?!”
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this has already been explained, that drones and nuclear rockets all require large crews to man. crews that are humans and have emotions, and live in squishy bodies with squishy families… that can all be threatened….
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and If you read that as “see? you would threaten people!?!?”… well.. you just threatened a local population with a nuclear attack….
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back to point – thing is we don’t. HAVE to debate this. the fact that 40-50% of the population says “I need it”… doesn’t matter you have the slight majority… it’s enough that a violent uprising … would quickly change your mind.
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They don’t need to convince you. YOU have to convince THEM to change their mind. all 130million of them. YOU have to convince THEM to take action and peacefully give up their guns.
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just simply making a law that says so, doesn’t change the world nor magically transport the firearms into the hands of the feds.
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Why do you have to convince them? Simple. if you don’t, and you somehow MAGICALLY can confiscate… they’ll immediately turn to 3D printing and self manufacturing the same weapons.
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Fundamentally, they don’t care if you get a gun. So they don’t need to convince you to get a gun. the burden is on YOU, to convince them to give theirs up.
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remember these are tax paying americans with voting rights. all of which, if you handle poorly… will bite you in the butt very soon if you blindly scorn half the population.
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Continuing to insist on ignoring their fears, and no … telling someone that’s angry to “calm down” doesn’t work… this will lead you to ultimately just get frustrated and spin wheels.
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when they say “it’s my right”… you responding with “no it’s not…”… doesn’t actually fix the problem. when a person Is irate… has telling them “calm down”… ever fixed anything?
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See it’s not so much about whether you should/shouldn’t ban guns. it’s more about whether you “can”.
TLDR, you’d have to deal with. :
I. it’d be insanely expensive to confiscate
II. You’d need to ensure ALL weapons are confiscated
III. there’s an ingrained culture of firearms in America and that a “one man cowboy” can save the day.—and they all interpret that with egoistic “me me me” attitudes. you’d have to overcome the ego on the topic… as well as the diversity causing so many problems.
IV. you’d have to address their fears and provide them the alternative tools to fight their said concerns
V. this would all need to be done prior to next election, with enough leadtime to show it’s success… so as not to risk the law being overturned.
All this would have to be overcome if you wanted to truly blame the guns and succeed.