• Tattorack@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    But the U.S. has more guns than people. And a lot of them aren’t registered, so law enforcement doesn’t know they exist.

    This is a saturation issue. It’ll take a while to clean up, but ultimately remove the market for guns, and the perceived social status from owning a gun, would reduce this issue over time.

    Crimimals wouldn’t have so many unregistered guns in the first place if there weren’t that many guns available from the beginning.

    Escalation has proven to not be the answer. You don’t solve the problem that saturation has caused by creating even more saturation.

    Plus the people who own them won’t just happily give them up. So if you ban guns, how do you reasonably plan to enforce it?

    Well, Australia managed to disarm a significant portion of its population in the past, so it’s possible.

    But when it comes to America I’d reckon it’d be a rather slow process. One that simply starts by removing the availability of new guns on the market. Don’t have to start taking away people’s emotional support collections yet, just make sure nobody can start a new one.

    … guns are just a tool used to commit those crimes.

    Guns are weapons. Weapons exist to threaten, bring harm, if not outright kill another living being.

    In areas where hunting is common, maybe the argument for them being useful tools to have can be made. Outside of this specific niche there is no reason for the public availabity of any weapon.

    Banning guns would be treating the symptom instead of the problem.

    I consider it a symptom and a problem.

    • Azrael@reddthat.com
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      3 hours ago

      Ah yes, because banning guns means they cease to exist. You realize that even if guns are no longer sold in the U.S., they can still be smuggled in from other countries along with other contraband like drugs and counterfeit cash. That’s how criminals in countries like the UK manage to get their hands on guns despite guns being banned. This is what I mean when I say “violent black market”. Guns can also be 3D printed.

      I don’t know why you’re bringing up Australia’s gun control as proof that “it’s possible”. Australia doesn’t have anywhere near the same history that the U.S. has with guns. It’s like comparing apples and oranges.