SMRs and AMRs

Saturday, October 03, 2015

Oregon shooting: eight ways to stop gun massacres in the US

Alan Yuhas asks what gun control proposals could be passed in the United States today and what is stopping them being enacted into law

Saturday 3 October 2015 10.13 EDT, The Guardian

The gunman who murdered nine people at an Oregon campus this week had 13 firearms, all of which were purchased legally by shooter Chris Harper Mercer or a member of his family in the last three years.

“This is a political choice that we make, to allow this to happen every few months in America,” Barack Obama said in response to the Roseburg shooting on Thursday. “Each time this happens, I am going to say that we can actually do something about it but we’re going to have to change our laws,” the president said.

As the country mourns the lives lost, the gun control questions take center stage again. What gun control proposals could realistically be passed in the United States today, what is stopping them being enacted into law, and what effect it would have on gun violence if they were to be approved? Here are eight possibilities.

1. Close loopholes in background checks for gun sales

The proposal: Close loopholes that allow felons, perpetrators of domestic abuse, or people with a history of dangerous mental illness to purchase weapons.

Currently, federal law includes several loopholes which gun dealers can use to make legal sales without carrying out the due diligence of a background check on the person buying a gun.

(More here.)

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