I don’t think too many people could legitimately argue with the fact that Americans civilian population is one of the most heavily armed in the world. We are also one of the worlds leaders in criminal violence with reported incidents of violent criminal gun use numbering in the hundreds of thousands. When those numbers are compared to other counties with considerably stricter gun laws and significantly fewer individually owned firearms, gun crime, while not nonexistent is markedly less. So it’s not difficult to conclude that if we had fewer guns and stricter laws we would have less violence and crime. With that said it is important to acknowledge that most of the 300 million or so privately owned guns never are and never will be used to commit a violent crime.
In order to fix anything it is necessary to know what is wrong, what the problem is and that the problem is clearly defined. What is a problem? A problem is an obstacle, it is something that hinders the achievement of a particular goal, objective or purpose. (Note, the following questions and proposed answers are limited in application to the specific context of gun control.)
So does America have a gun problem or a violent crime problem? What goal, objective or purpose do guns hinder the achievement of? What goal, objective or purpose does violent crime hinder the achievement of?
Before we can identify potential solutions to a problem we need to identify the thing that the problem hinders, what it keeps from happening, which brings us to another question, What is the purpose of America? What is the reason for which we exist? While the answer to this question will be as varied as there are people I offer this as a generic purpose . The purpose of America is to establish and maintain a system of government wherein individuals and by extension society can prosper and live peaceably. With this very basic purpose in mind we can now define our problems.
The problem with violent crime is that it hinders our ability to prosper and live peaceably.
The problem with guns isn't so clear cut. For me the problem with guns isn't so much a problem of the gun as it is a problem of how the gun is used, because a gun is only as dangerous as the person holding it. Nevertheless I propose that the problem with guns is that they have the potential to facilitate the commission of violent crimes which hinders our ability to prosper and live peaceably.
We now know what is being hindered (purpose) and we know how it is being hindered (problem) now we need a solution, an answer(s) to the problem(s).
Rightly or wrongly it seems that we as a society have decided to focus our attention on guns and gun control as opposed to focusing on violent crime which I find unfortunate. While all gun crime is violent crime not all violent crime is gun crime. There is more violent crime committed without a gun than there is with a gun. Subsequently instead of looking for solutions that address violent crime; time, energy and resources are spent looking for solutions that seek to reduce or prevent a single means by which a portion of violent crime is committed.
So what is gun control? Gun control is a legislative solution to the problem of gun crime that focuses on three things; control of the means of production and distribution (manufacturers, sellers and purchasers), control of the gun (type, style, caliber, capacity), and control of it’s use (where, when, how and means of transport). Its goal / intent / scope is to prevent gun crime, reduce gun crime and to mitigate the severity of the consequences of gun crime via; regulating firearms commerce, deterring firearm use in criminal offences and preventing the acquisition of firearms by felons, the mentally ill and those predisposed to violence.
That's what I have for now. I don't know if there will be any agreement on what I have defined as our purpose or problems. I hope that there can be agreement on the goals of gun control because that is where a conversation can start. Once we have agreement on what we want we can hash out the details of how to get there.