The FAST Approaching Gun Ban

I think people would have to get used to smart weapons before they trust them and that might require a slow rollout. I've said I don't shoot guns but I can imagine if I had one that required a radio transmitter or a fingerprint authorization I would be nervous about it not working when I need it.

That's a natural fear with something you're depending on in a rare but serious situation. I wouldn't dismiss the idea of a safer weapon or think it was a plot to ban guns but I would be a bit nervous about an additional tech component to a piece of equipment I had used just fine up until then.

I also agree that legislation mandating smart guns is a really bad idea at this point because it would be better for people to start getting used to them...explore them and find them effective for self-defense and safety before they are a political battleground..so I agree with Fred on that.

I would like to weigh in on the culture wars commentary. The gun problem we have in this country crosses cultural and ethnic lines. Perhaps there are some rural communities where guns are more likely to be seen as a symbol of independence and a part of American identity and this is combined with a distrust of government. As a result any policy meant to increase public safety is resisted as an attempt to erode a civil right.

But we have a very long history in this country of very liberal gun laws and the result is that it's very easy to buy a gun, whether you're white, latino, black, or asian. A child of any race can shoot himself with his parent's weapons, and a depressed person of any background can decide to take his own life with a gun. It's not easy to pass laws that allow people to have weapons for self-defense but protect against these social hazards. Any law our legislatures pass is going to have only marginal impact at first. But that can't be an excuse not to act and on multiple fronts. The only actions that would have an immediate and profound effect on this problem would also infringe on people's right to own a gun....so it seems rather unfair that the more reasonable policies, whether background checks, safety features, more accountability in distribution would be attacked as not likely to make a difference. The differences will matter in the aggregate if we treat this as a serious problem.

Rather than fly off into my usual colorful prose, I'll just say that putting guns in the hands of idiots is BAD, and is usually a tragedy waiting to happen.
While seatbelts and refrigerators should be safe as possible, guns should be dangerous. That's what makes this topic so remarkable.

Difficult to know what the word "should" means. It's possible to make firearms so that children can't fire them. Yet every week since the year's start, children have been picking up firearms and accidentally shooting people. Should we continue to make guns that children can operate because guns should be that dangerous? Slick sayings and clever mottos do not an argument make.

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Originally Posted by trish

Difficult to know what the word "should" means. It's possible to make firearms so that children can't fire them. Yet every week since the year's start, children have been picking up firearms and accidentally shooting people. Should we continue to make guns that children can operate because guns should be that dangerous? Slick sayings and clever mottos do not an argument make.

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Congresswoman............
Children SHOULD never be allowed to handle a gun. Unless you can make the 300 million guns that are out there now idiotproof, what can you realistically do? Unless you can convince 150 million Americans they're too stupid to own a gun, then it does not make a bit of difference what SHOULD be done, gunplay on the streets and accidental shootings are RED WHITE and BLUE.
The Japanese and Germans have much better gun violence stats than we do, but they also used Chinese children for bayonet practice, and gassed millions of Jews.
I hope Hillary jumps over gun control and channels her internal Bernie Sanders to fix the tax code. Guns are here to stay.

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then it does not make a bit of difference what SHOULD be done

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"Should" was your word choice, not mine. You said guns should be dangerous. Okay. My question is "How dangerous should they be? Citing how many guns are out there which are not child proof (as a biometric gun would effectively be, if it were programmed to operate for a unique licensed adult) doesn't answer the question, "Should we continue to make firearms that are not effectively childproof?"

No we cannot retroactively make all guns safe. Because of that sad fact tragedies will continue to occur on a yearly basis for many years to come. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean we shouldn't discontinue making guns that are so unsafe a toddler can fire one. We can start making safer weapons. We can also require non-biometric guns to have trigger locks and stored in a gun-safe. Of course, we can't go into every home and make sure people are obeying the law; but we can arrest or fine people when unhappy incidents alert us to the fact that a firearm was not kept locked away from children. We can hold people liable for the damage their weapons cause.

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I hope Hillary jumps over gun control and channels her internal Bernie Sanders to fix the tax code.

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Agreed. Working people in both parties can understand economic inequality.

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Guns are here to stay.

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Again, you're framing the issue way Fox News taught you to frame it. Of course guns are here to stay. No one is after your guns.

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Originally Posted by trish

... You said guns should be dangerous. Okay. My question is "How dangerous should they be? ....

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Considering they are designed to kill people, that's pretty dangerous, I guess.
I don't have a solution.

So to the question, "Should we continue to manufacture firearms that are not effectively childproof?" is your answer, "I don't know" ?

Okay let's try something simpler, how about we require every ammunition manufacturer to label every case of bullets with "CHOKING HAZARD" ?

This problem is real and way bigger than my personal opinion, as I stated a long time ago, I had one close friend who was shot and killed the first day of hunting season, and even closer friend's step-daughter was murder by a disgruntled co-worker on her first day back from maternity leave. That was a national story. Another schoolmate shot himself playing Russian roulette in high school.
If you manage to make guns baby-proof, you're still a long way from making them adult-proof.
Write a letter to your congressman. Live your Life.

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Originally Posted by buttslinger

If you manage to make guns baby-proof, you're still a long way from making them adult-proof.
Write a letter to your congressman. Live your Life.

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This is the same argument as before. Failure to solve all the problems means we shouldn't address any of them. We shouldn't punish tax evasion because we won't catch all tax evaders. We shouldn't prosecute murderers as long as some go undetected etc.