sadly it will continue to no matter how many gun laws are put in place. Legislation will not correct this problem.
OK, this is a three component issue as you have just explained it.
Unstable humans. Who decides who is unstable? If you have spent any time in a mental institution your not going to be licensed to carry a hand gun. Same if you have a criminal record. The current laws on the books attempt to accomplish exactly what you seek and what we all want, to keep unstable people away from guns.
The problem is, we already have all these gun laws in place and they don't work. The solution is not more of the same old same old, that only takes the guns away from stable law abiding folks and allows only the outlaws to have guns.
More gun laws would embolden the outlaw. Now they know you don't have a gun in your home because it is illegal now. You may have never owned a gun in your life, but your home was safer because you just might have one.
Miami Florida became much safer after they issued the concealed carry permit. Street thugs did not attempt to hijack cars any more because some, not all, of the cars had guns in them now.
Your second point is easy access to guns. The only easy access I know of is in the black market. If you purchase a weapon legally, there is some red tape involved that will prevent criminals from walking away with a gun.
The last component you mentioned is maximum violence as a response. If I was alone outside my home and was confronted by criminals, if I could run away I certainly would. In your own home you have your whole family to think of. If you run away what becomes of them? I'm sorry, if you break into my home and threaten my family, maximum violence is the correct response and quite possibly a deterrent for future criminals to consider.
You keep insisting that; "The problem is, we already have all these gun laws in place and they don't work. The solution is not more of the same old same old, that only takes the guns away from stable law abiding folks and allows only the outlaws to have guns." But I AM NOT PROPOSING MORE OF THE SAME OLD GUN LAWS. I am proposing that we scrap the old laws all together because they are not working, and we start over. And what I am proposing as the foundation of this new start is A NEW GOAL. The problem with the old gun laws is that they don't address the real issue, or they address it inconsistently, and ineffectively, because they weren't put in place as part of a single comprehensive program of deadly weapons control.
To get it right, we first have to face the real problem, directly. And the real problem is NOT THAT PEOPLE OWN GUNS. The problem is that irresponsible people are able to get guns and/or own guns, both legally and illegally. And as a result, they misuse them, and kill people: themselves, others, and both. So the solution is not to stop responsible people from buying and owning or even carrying guns. The solution is to stop irresponsible people from being able to do so. And although this will never be 100% achievable, it IS the proper goal of weapons control. and it is worth implementing, because even though we can't stop everyone who should not have a deadly weapon from getting one, we can stop a lot of people who should not have them from getting them.
You keep insisting that the laws, even reasonable and proper laws, can't possibly work. And this is simply wrong. They can't work perfectly, but no law can work perfectly. That doesn't negate the value or effectiveness of having laws, however. Most people do follow them most of the time. And that makes the difference.
You also keep assuming that I'm proposing that we take guns away from responsible citizens, and I AM NOT proposing that. I'm merely proposing that responsible citizens learn how and when to use deadly force, just like a cop has to do, and then be tested and certified, just as any cop has to be, that they do in fact know when and how to use a deadly weapon. And this process wouldn't need to be as advanced for sporting guns. Just as your driver's license now has codes to allow you to drive larger and commercial vehicles after a specific course and test, or not to, so would your gun license. But what I am also proposing is that just as with a police officer, this license is under constant scrutiny. If you get a DUI, for example, you have PROVEN that you are irresponsible with potentially deadly machinery and therefor pose an unacceptable threat to the public's safety. And as a result, you don't just lose your license to drive a car, but you also lose your license to own a gun. You will either turn it in, along with the license, or sign it over to a friend who is properly licensed to own guns. If you do not do so, or you keep a gun in your possession, anyway, and you are caught with it, you will face very stiff fines and penalties, and you will be charged with a felony, and will lose the right to possess a gun forever. This would also apply to any drug conviction and to any other kind of felony conviction.
If you manage to behave responsibly say, for the next three years after the DUI, then you can retest, and if you pass, have your gun license reinstated.
This testing, by the way, should involve psychological testing, just as it does with the police. Over the years, the police academies have discovered that they attract certain kinds of unstable people who should never be given authority over other people, and should especially never be given the right to carry or use deadly weapons. And they've gotten pretty good at spotting these people and weeding them out. And this is exactly the kind of process we need to employ with anyone who wants to get a gun license. It's not fool-proof, but it does work most of the time.
The truth is that these unstable people are usually pretty easy to spot. And when we read about many of the people who end up killing other people in fits of drunken rage, or high on drugs, or who have been stalking and or violent, etc., it almost always turns out that lots of other people knew they were having problems, they just didn't tell anyone about them. A hands on course in use and testing for a gun license would give people who are trained to spot such problems in others the time and opportunity to do so. And I am certain it would weed out a fair number of people who we would not want to have access to deadly weapons. It's working fairly well for the police, and it could easily be expanded.
I want people who want to own hand guns for self and other protection to be able to do so. But I want them to do it right, and to be highly trained, like cops, when they pull that weapon out. And I also want them to know how to treat a deadly weapon when it's not being used, or carried, the same way a cop has to take special precautions and responsibility for his weapon when off duty.
And I believe that the result of this kind of weapons oversight, and certification, would not only weed out many of those irresponsible people who want to own guns, but shouldn't, it would raise the level of awareness and care that the responsible citizens will give to the heady responsibility of gun ownership.
And the result would be that guns would be much harder for ANYONE to get, but especially for drunks, dope heads, hot heads, stalkers, and otherwise emotionally unstable people. If they are really determined, they will probably find a way to get one, but when someone is really determined to kill someone else, it's difficult to stop them. This is rare, however. Most killings are not that pre-meditated, and are not carried out by people that are all that clever and persistent. And so most of these people would find it a lot more difficult to get hold of a gun than it currently is.
Guns would be sold on the 'black market', but they would become more and more expensive as the availability of guns tightened. Joe Twelvepack, who can now very easily obtain a gun for $50 will find that he doesn't have the $500 being demanded on the black market. And as a result, then next time he gets drunk and in a fight with someone at the local pub, he wouldn't have a pistol handy to go staggering back into the bar with to 'get even'. Or when Mr. Brokenheart takes it into his drug induced delusional mind to kill his "girlfriend" because she didn't realize that she WAS his girlfriend, and so went out with someone else, he won't have a gun just lying around to grab and chase her down with. Nor will he find anyone else's gun just lying around, either. The point is that guns will be tougher to get, black market or not. They'll be more expensive, and they'll be better guarded by those who own them. And that will save a lot of lives.
