General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: If we don't focus on the mentally ill how are background checks supposed to work? [View all]backscatter712
(26,355 posts)Obviously full-auto weapons are already almost illegal. Manufacture of new Class III weapons were banned during the Reagan administration, so the ones that are left are collector pieces.
Full auto weapons, obviously, can send a hell of a lot of hot lead out their barrels - rat-a-tat. That's why they're so destructive, and why even in gun-happy USA, they're hard to get.
Semi-auto weapons should also become hard to get - you can fire off one shot for each pull of the trigger, and you can pull the trigger repeatedly and rapidly - BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! Depending on the magazine, you can fire off up to thirty rounds.
Maybe people should be restricted to firearms that require a secondary action between shots. Say like a pump-action shotgun, where you have to pump a new round into the chamber before you can fire again. Or how about a pistol where you have to manually cock it or rack the slide before you can shoot again, so it goes down to BOOM-clack-clack BOOM-clack-clack. Slows the amount of hot lead coming out the barrel.
Between that and reinstating the ban on high capacity magazines, that could be quite helpful in reducing the death toll.