The Second Amendment must go

We shouldn’t “take them away” from people who currently own them, necessarily. That would likely cause just as many problems. I’m sure there are more than a few disgruntled gun owners out there who would take a ban as an assault on liberty, and act accordingly. We should, rather, phase them out over time, similar to the way in which the CPSC dealt with drop-sides. Allow those who currently own guns to keep them, but ban the future manufacture, sale and resale of guns and ammunition for personal use. Without a continually expanding and revolving supply of licit guns and ammunition immediately at hand, the hope is the gradual depletion of their circulation and utility. Calling it a contemporary version of beating swords into ploughshares.

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There is, of course, always the black market, where the “criminals” go anyway to get their guns. Those who deserve guns least will be the only ones who have access to them: the “bad guys.” Perhaps. But the mythology of the “bad guy with the gun” is rooted more in ideology and fear than fact, and is perpetuated by the easy flow of guns in the first place.

Besides, the black market for guns already depends upon an overabundance of guns, meaning a ban would affect it as well. It likely wouldn’t eradicate it, of course, and there’s no reason to assume otherwise. Nevertheless, coupling a supply problem with severe penalties could do much to curb such illicit markets, making them unattractive and out of reach for most people, criminals included. That would be a good thing, for the “good guys” and the “bad guys.”

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