love your thoughtful pieces as always. some fave lines today:
"the reason I want to see him unharmed is so that he can, eventually, live out a long and healthy life in prison."
"We’re still four months off, and as we’ve seen the last couple weeks, what feels tectonic one moment feels passé the next."
"While I’m dubious that the times really are a-changin’, if Trump truly does change course in word and deed, I, too, will consider the assassination attempt providential."
Also, let’s hypothesize that Congress and the President outlaw all weapons, by which I mean firearms. Law abiding citizens ordered to surrender all weapons. Let’s further hypothesize that 100% of law abiding citizens do comply and that a civil war does not erupt, which is a fantasy.
What about the millions of guns, hi capacity and otherwise, that bad guys have from thefts, etc?
How about, instead of gun control, we move toward ammo control? The ammo supply, save for those hundreds of thousands or millions that reload their own ammo, seems the best way to immediately move on this problem. That addresses guns that have known owners as well as stolen guns, illegal guns, ghost guns. No ammo = no shooting.
The barn door has been wide open for decades and all the cows are long gone. Shutting that barn door now won’t solve that problem.
Speaking of ghost guns, is there any semi-accurate estimate of how many ghost receivers have been bought in the last 20 years or so that they’ve been a thing? You buy the receiver for the weapon,cash in person, of course. No record tying you to that ghost receiver. With this receiver, you get a plastic guide to drill holes and route the receiver with $300 worth of router and drill press investment.
Then you add all the parts, again, purchased in cash. No records. A Glock is a simple gun to build, as is the ak-47. The AR-15 and 1911 ghost guns are more complex but plenty of videos I suspect to assist newbies.
How many ghost ARs, AKs, Glocks and 1911s, as well as whatever other guns popular for ghost building, are out there?
I know I’ve seen a well known felon in my town at the store wearing a shirt that shows how to assemble a ghost glock. Where do ya think he got that shirt? On the discount rack at TJ Maxx? More likely it came with his purchase of parts. I’m pretty sure this fella don’t care about any laws, much less gun control laws.
What do we do about this, Michael? It’s a problem.
I’ll add that, in light of the recent SCOTUS ruling on bump stocks, any gun control efforts will be stymied until the composition of the Court changes. Regardless of Congress and Executive Orders.
I don't know enough about them to know if they represent a legitimate problem or if they're still too fringe to make an impact. Broadly speaking, though, I want to remove as many guns from the general population as possible, so that would include ghost guns. That being said, I am not anti-gun in the sense that people may think. I don't care about guns. I care about the violence people create with them. If we can figure out a way to reduce gun violence AND allow everybody to keep their weaponry, that's fine with me, too. But I don't see how a nation awash in killing machinery can take meaningful steps to reduce the mayhem they case without reducing the numbers of gun available for easy purchase. As many have pointed out, if more guns equalled a safer country, we'd have the safest country on earth.
dear michael,
love your thoughtful pieces as always. some fave lines today:
"the reason I want to see him unharmed is so that he can, eventually, live out a long and healthy life in prison."
"We’re still four months off, and as we’ve seen the last couple weeks, what feels tectonic one moment feels passé the next."
"While I’m dubious that the times really are a-changin’, if Trump truly does change course in word and deed, I, too, will consider the assassination attempt providential."
much love and thanks!
myq
Thanks, as always, Myq
The Dylan analogy was excellent btw. That gig changed the face of rock and roll at the time.
Also, let’s hypothesize that Congress and the President outlaw all weapons, by which I mean firearms. Law abiding citizens ordered to surrender all weapons. Let’s further hypothesize that 100% of law abiding citizens do comply and that a civil war does not erupt, which is a fantasy.
What about the millions of guns, hi capacity and otherwise, that bad guys have from thefts, etc?
How about, instead of gun control, we move toward ammo control? The ammo supply, save for those hundreds of thousands or millions that reload their own ammo, seems the best way to immediately move on this problem. That addresses guns that have known owners as well as stolen guns, illegal guns, ghost guns. No ammo = no shooting.
The barn door has been wide open for decades and all the cows are long gone. Shutting that barn door now won’t solve that problem.
News reports are saying would be Trump assassin bought 50 rounds of ammo hours before the shooting.
Ammo control. An idea whose time has come.
Speaking of ghost guns, is there any semi-accurate estimate of how many ghost receivers have been bought in the last 20 years or so that they’ve been a thing? You buy the receiver for the weapon,cash in person, of course. No record tying you to that ghost receiver. With this receiver, you get a plastic guide to drill holes and route the receiver with $300 worth of router and drill press investment.
Then you add all the parts, again, purchased in cash. No records. A Glock is a simple gun to build, as is the ak-47. The AR-15 and 1911 ghost guns are more complex but plenty of videos I suspect to assist newbies.
How many ghost ARs, AKs, Glocks and 1911s, as well as whatever other guns popular for ghost building, are out there?
I know I’ve seen a well known felon in my town at the store wearing a shirt that shows how to assemble a ghost glock. Where do ya think he got that shirt? On the discount rack at TJ Maxx? More likely it came with his purchase of parts. I’m pretty sure this fella don’t care about any laws, much less gun control laws.
What do we do about this, Michael? It’s a problem.
I have no idea what to do about ghost guns - thankfully, I don't have to write legislation.
I’ll add that, in light of the recent SCOTUS ruling on bump stocks, any gun control efforts will be stymied until the composition of the Court changes. Regardless of Congress and Executive Orders.
Would you agree that we must include ghost guns in any violence reduction strategy?
I don't know enough about them to know if they represent a legitimate problem or if they're still too fringe to make an impact. Broadly speaking, though, I want to remove as many guns from the general population as possible, so that would include ghost guns. That being said, I am not anti-gun in the sense that people may think. I don't care about guns. I care about the violence people create with them. If we can figure out a way to reduce gun violence AND allow everybody to keep their weaponry, that's fine with me, too. But I don't see how a nation awash in killing machinery can take meaningful steps to reduce the mayhem they case without reducing the numbers of gun available for easy purchase. As many have pointed out, if more guns equalled a safer country, we'd have the safest country on earth.
Thanks. Mostly agree. But I also think it’s not all about the guns. It’s about the finger pulling the trigger. Our populace scares me, more than guns.
A brief clip showing effective gun control.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N723si1wAG8
For all the hand-wringing about the nation’s overheated rhetoric, we simply haven’t seen much leftwing political violence – yet.
Antifa?