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Creative Gun Control

So, there was no formal brainstorming involved in this post. I just randomly came up with some ideas related to gun control. You guessed that part from the title. Should we ban assault weapons, or large magazines, or what?

"Or what" seems like the best answer. Here are some random ideas on how to potentially reduce gun violence:

1. (Source unknown) Let anyone buy any type of gun but ban sale and possession of all forms of ammunition. Realistically this is not going to happen.

2. Voluntary buy-back program - The federal government could transfer funds from (insert unpopular program here) and use the money to buy guns, no questions asked.

3. Ammo check - A system that allows gun dealers to check IDs of ammo buyers. If a buyer turns up on the computerized list of people judged mentally ill (e.g., unfit to own a gun) then the gun dealer can deny them their ammunition. The attempted purchase could also be recorded at the time. Now the authorities know that a nutcase is trying to buy ammunition for a gun he is likely not allowed to have.

OK, so that one is about as likely as banning ammunition. Some form of my ammo check system might still be viable. Some creative thinking could refine this idea into a useful idea.

4. More Punishment - Mandatory prison time for anyone who sells or otherwise transfers a gun to someone who is forbidden to own a gun. Double the punishment for all gun crimes, including illegal possession of a firearm.

5. Technological Solution - RFID gun locks could make a stolen gun less useful. If you don't have a ring or tag or whatever to transmit the right ID to the gun it will not fire. These can't be made mandatory (I am trying to be sensible here!) but there could some incentive to buy guns that have them. What sort of realistic incentive could there be? Hmm...

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