I always laugh at the comment, "Well, if we just banned guns we wouldn't have all these problems." Some people don't understand that criminals will find a way to get guns illegally; after all, they're criminals!
I've always been against gun registration, like most people I fear that my government will suddenly decide to take our guns away from us someday and if they're registered then the government will know exactly where to go get them. I don't find that fear unfounded. I don't know the cure, I know I feel if we were more secure in our trust of our government to never take our guns away then registering wouldn't be as big of an issue as it is.
Personally I'm ready for all the guns in the hands of all criminals, gang members, and drug dealers, to be gone. The amount of "drive by shootings" occurring in the USA is sickening. So many politictians blame everything on guns it seems, mainly because crimes like drive-by shootings, drug shoot outs, and school shootings, are becoming more and more common and stand out so much. I look at taking guns away from honest citizens as being like punishing a good child for what the bad child has done, that it's just not the right thing to do.
I know this paragraph will probably get jumped on, but I feel that the private sales of guns, person to person, should not be allowed, that if you own a gun and want to sell that gun to someone else then that sale should go through gun shops with a FFL certified for private "person to person" sales. That way the person purchasing your gun would have to go through the same type of check as if they were buying a brand new gun and at least partially stop people from selling to criminals. Truly honest people shouldn't have an issue with doing this, I know I don't. This way people would think twice about selling to just anyone, that if they sold a gun without going through a certified gunshop and the person they sold it to used it in a crime, then it should fall back on the seller also. This is my view mind you, it doesn't have to be yours, I just feel that the more people allowed to sell to just anyone, the more problems the honest people will have in the future with hostile politicians crawling up our backs. If you have a better solution please share it with us.
Criminals will always find something to use, if guns become unavailable then it'll be something else, knives, baseball bats, fake pipe bombs .. I mean seriously, how much does it cost to run to your local hardware store and buy a short length of pvc pipe, two end caps, and some glue? Less than $10 I'm sure, and I'm gonna tell ya what, if someone came into my business and stuck one of those things on my counter with a couple of wires sticking out the end it'd, that'd darned well get my attention really quick.
Under no circumstances do I believe in taking guns out of the hands of honest and law abiding citizens. I feel all of us who read forums like this know that we're not the ones misusing guns. I believe that any crime commited by anyone with a gun should be sentenced to mandatory time in jail, no exceptions! I don't think they need trial after trial and appeal after appeal either.
I didn't feel I'd live to see a time where there'd be concealed carry licenses as common as there are today with so many states issuing them. I do feel honored to have one though, I believe it shows I've lead a good clean life and have never been in trouble, and at 55 I'm proud of that.
SnowCajun