Would stricter gun control reduce gun crime in the US?

I would go with a passable yes, I know that the US is a unique society, a different place to countries like Switzerland and Israel where there's also huge gun ownership. But I think yes, if you did restrict access to firearms it would reduce gun crime, it would certainly limit the number of mass shootings. If you also limited the power of firearms it would reduce the death toll, high capacity magazines and weapons that can employ rapid fire and outgun the police.

 

So far:

2 x yes!

 

It would depend on the law; most of the usual litany of LW solutions wouldn't change any number to the left of the decimal point. More people were killed last year by common objects, e.g. hammers, rocks, etc, or by hands, fists, feet, than were killed by ALL rifles.
Things like "proper storage" is already law in many states. We have a workable background check system but it is only as good as the data fed into it; several mass shooters SHOULD have been in the system but weren't because of malperformances by law enforcement.
Magazine size is a red herring, granted there's been a incident or two where the shooter was stopped changing mags, but we can't count on that dependably.

We need more of the "see something, say something" ethic. Parents, friends, teachers, classmates, siblings are closest to the shooter and we lose people when they fail to act.
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PS: I voted "Maybe"

 

Mass shootings are always conducted by sociopaths. Deny them guns and they'll find another way to kill. Instead of shoot up the school they'll blow up the school. See Timothy McVeigh on Wikipedia.

 

Voted maybe.

American teenagers are 82 times more likely to die from a gun homicide than their international peers.
Let's start here. Address the reasons why gun violence is so high among our nations' youth.
I have a few of my own reasons.... We have a breakdown in society, families. Society has become apathetic to the problems of many teens in crisis. The red flags are being missed. So let's address stonger red flag laws while we are at it.

This kind of stuff never went on back in the day, but rarely. Why do teens feel so hopeless and full of hate that they would turn their obvious resentments outward with a gun and then, usually on themselves? Most of the mass shootings are committed by the 18-19 year old group. I know the legal age is considered to be 18, but stats are telling us it's the older teens who committing mass gun shootings. We have to stop blaming the "guns" and address those "using" the guns to kill.

 

Would stricter gun control help reduce crime. Well perhaps not. Or if it does it will be marginally reduced.
See most crime is done by the same thugs and street punks in the same areas. Gangbangers and thugs will not give up their guns, they will continue to commit the same crimes. Hell they may even increase if they know more honest citizens are not armed.
and reduced capacity mags will not be the answer. The OP may know that a mag can be changed in one of those scary AR or AK in one second. So instead of one 30 round mag you carry three ten rounds and swap em in about a second.

 

I believe we need stricter gun control. We've had three incidents recently that made headlines already. Two of the shooters were 18 and shot people at will. Two of the shooters are now dead. It is a shame that these shooters have to kill for no real reason at all. Guns don't solve problems, they never have and never will and that's a fact. If anyone thinks that guns solve the problems, they're dead wrong and I mean it.

 

On the other hand violent crimes are very low in Switzerland where every second person owns a gun.

 

Thank you.

Regrettably, the gun ban crowd didn't get the message that criminals, by definition, don't obey laws; old laws, existing laws or proposed laws.

By the way, the deadliest school mass killing(1) was not done with any type of firearm.
As far back as 1927, a determined killer fabricated a home made bomb that killed 44 people. That crude, home made bomb killed more people than any school mass shooting before or since.

Additionally, the deadliest mass killing(2) also was committed by an individual who could not get a gun to kill his ex-girlfriend so he needed only $1.00 worth of gasoline to make a crude type of Molotov cocktail that managed to kill 86 people plus his unfortunate ex-girlfriend.

So, we don't need a crystal ball to see what happens when a determined killer can't get a gun. He will simply fashion an easily made but much deadlier WMD that kills even more people.

The solution, then, to these mass shootings is in the detection and treatment of the determined killer because even if you could eliminate all guns, determined killers will simply resort to far deadlier and easily made crude WMDs like Anthrax, bombs, Molotov cocktails and any number of Bio-Chem WMDs.



(1) "The 1927 Bombing That Remains America’s Deadliest School Massacre"

"Ninety years ago, a school in Bath, Michigan was rigged with explosives in a brutal act that stunned the town"

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...chool-massacre-180963355/#KSipwm4IUrIbB9uc.99

EXCERPTS "In the end 44 people died, 38 of them students. It wasn’t the first bombing in the country’s history—at least eight were killed during the Haymarket Square rally in Chicago in 1886, and 30 when a bomb exploded in Manhattan in 1920. But none had been so deadly as this, or affected so many children."CONTINUED


(2) "Happy Land fire"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Land_fire

EXCERPT "González went to an Amoco gas station, then returned to the establishment with a plastic container with $1 worth of gasoline.[2][4] He spread the fuel at the base of a staircase, the only access into the club, and then ignited the gasoline.[5]

Eighty-seven people died in the resulting fire."CONTINUED

 

And Switzerland is a very rich, socially conformist place with virtually no crime, racial tensions etc the US is different

 

It is illogical. Laws only affect the law abiding.

 

The entire country of Switzerland has fewer people than a major US city.

 

Nonsense. Can you buy a nuclear weapon?

Seen any good deals on nerve gas on ebay?

 

Yes, not selling military weapons to children is a good start.

 

what children were sold military weapons? if you are old enough to get drafted you are an adult
no military issues AR 15s so stop the nonsense

 

the average age of a mass shooter is 33

 

one of the two adults killed by the murderer in Texas could have used a gun to solve a really serious problem. The police officer who shot the mope did solve the problem with a gun

 

if civilian police use them for self defense in civilian environments, other civilians have a valid reason for owing them

 

Nonsense. That is not a standard. Nothing says the average person needs to be armed like the cops.

 

btw, gun violence in the US costs every man, woman, and child about $850 a year - or about $3400 a year for the average household. So the average income earners for a family of 4 work about 2.5 weeks a year just to pay the bills for gun violence.

Our federal, state, and local governments are spending a combined average of $34.8 million each day to deal with the aftermath of gun violence across the country. The total annual bill for taxpayers, survivors, families, employers, and communities is $280 billion.
https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-economic-cost-of-gun-violence/

 

note also that you aren't even on topic. He said

I pointed out that even criminals can't buy nuclear weapons or nerve gas. So while your attempt to change the subject is duly noted, it is still an unsupported argument with no basis in fact.

'

 

The most obvious thing is to limit the amount of ammunition one person can possess.

No more than 20-50 rounds per year should be good depending on the weapon. More could be used at gun ranges where it can be controlled. You could even require that the spent shells be returned for replacement rounds.

Nothing in the 2nd A says you have a right to unlimited ammunition.

 

Which most mass shooters are right up until they commit their massacres?

 

~ Not in the USA . America already has fairly strict gun control — just poorly enforced.

 

Fair point.