Gun, Firearm & Assault Weapon Controls - The Debate

NEW YORK - July 30, 2019 - PRLog -- Stephen Romero was six years old when he was killed in a mass shooting in Gilroy, California on July 28. The weapon was an assault rifle. Combined, US military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2014 total 159.* There have been over 230 deaths and 975 injuries in mass shootings in the US in 2019. The NotWe.org link to the statistics from GVA** is ArmsControlDebate.com.

Is it time to institute domestic arms control? After all, the US has been implementing international arms controls since the era of the cold war.

Should the private sale of automatic and semi-automatic weapons be banned outright?

Should a firearms license be required to carry any weapon outside of an owner's property except when locked in a gun case, car trunk or glovebox?

Should possession of unlicensed firearms otherwise transported in public carry a mandatory prison sentence?

Should background checks and waiting periods be required for the purchase of firearms?

Should all firearm licenses require biannual renewal and background check updates?

Should the US Government establish a national arms control policy including 'no questions asked' for arms and munitions repurchases?

Should the NRA amend its mission statement by adding the one word - 'legal' - in order that it begin: "To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially with reference to the inalienable right of the individual American citizen guaranteed by such Constitution to acquire, possess, collect, exhibit, transport, carry, transfer ownership of, and enjoy the right to use LEGAL arms...."

Much as the Crime Control Act of 1968 made it illegal for individuals to possess such 'destructive devices' as live hand grenades, would Americans' Constitutional right to bear arms not be respected even though assault weapons were declared illegal?

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(*) The Iraq Coalition Casualty Count includes Afghanistan. It is maintained at http://icasualties.org/

(**) The mission of the GVA (Gun Violence Archive) is "to document incidents of gun violence and gun crime nationally to provide independent, verified data to those who need to use it in their research, advocacy or writing."