Politics: Reflections of a non-gun person

I do not own a gun. I have never even fired a gun. If I saw a gun on the table, I would leave it alone because I would not know how to check to see if it is loaded or not. If an emergency were in progress and I would need to use a handgun and there was one because a security guard with one was down, I wouldn't know how to remove a trigger lock or anything about how to hold, aim and fire it accurately.

I do think, maybe, I should know these very basic things. But of course, why should I gain those skills if I don't actually purchase a gun. Emotionally, I don't know if I am ready to go there.

The Newtown shooting was horrible and it has made me think about what should we do about guns in America?

According to this article in Huffington Post:
First 911 call was at 9:35 AM
SWAT team arrived at 9:45AM
Shooter confirmed dead at 10:30AM

This item from Middletown Press:
9:35 AM Dispatch, “Sandy Hook School, Caller’s indicated she thinks someone is shooting in the building.”
9:40 AM Dispatch, “Shooter’s apparently still shooting in office area. Dickerson Drive.”
9:53 AM Dispatch, “Newtown’s reporting one suspect down. The building has now been cleared.”

These reports would indicate at some point between 9:45 and 9:53, the shooter shot and killed himself.

Sadly, in 10 to 18 minutes, the shooter killed 26 people at the school.

Just a couple of weeks ago, a Georgia mother shot and wounded a crowbar wielding intruder while talking with 911 while barricaded in her attic with her two small children waiting for the police to arrive.

The sad reality in these two situations is that the police could not get there fast enough. In the second case, the woman did have a handgun and knew how to use it.

How does one design gun laws to diminish the chance someone mentally unstable or individual with criminal intent will get firearms?

Will any of the laws being proposed accomplish this?

I suppose background checks should help.

Setting up an electronic background check database in a country with over 300 million people is easy to say in a political speech but probably not a trivial IT exercise. However, with enough computer software programers working on the database and networking specialists to get different government agency computers talking to each other, it could probably be done in a handful of years.

An effective database would make it more difficult for the mentally ill or criminals to obtain weapons through legal sales. Of course, they could go ahead and buy them from illegal sources but let's not make it easy for them by allowing them to just walk up to the gun shop and get the weapons of their choice. These rules do impose some burden on law abiding citizens but in my mind, what is a few extra forms and maybe even a waiting period?

What about restrictions on types of weapons and ammunition limits?

I wondered, what is the typical handgun the police use?

Google search ...

The Glock.

Excerpts:
in the United States, American police officers were feeling that they were outgunned by criminals. A series of incidents—including an FBI shootout with a couple of psychotic bank robbers in Miami in 1986—persuaded the American cops that the gun they had been using for 75 years, the classic Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver, was no longer potent enough. They needed something new. And here came Gaston Glock saying, "I have the pistol of the future, and it addresses exactly what you feel you are lacking." .......... Rather than six rounds, the Glock has 17 rounds in the magazine. Instead of a 12-pound trigger pull, like the traditional revolver, it has a trigger pull of slightly more than 5 pounds. That means that someone who is a mediocre shooter or a bad shooter—as many police officers who don’t practice often enough are—will suddenly become more accurate and be more effective. The gun is much lighter, so that if you’re wearing it on your hip for 8 or 10 hours, it will be more comfortable. The Glock is literally made in a plastic mold as opposed to being assembled from steel. It’s what makes it so light; and what allows the gun to have the large capacity [is that] the plastic is very thin. The Glock is also more durable and will function if it’s not cleaned properly or regularly.

As far as long guns are concerned, the AR-15 has received the most news. And indeed, this item indicated that the Washington DC police department decided to issue them to street officers. I would guess many other police departments have taken similar steps.

Excerpt:
Although the overwhelming majority of D.C. homicides are committed with handguns, criminals have used powerful guns in recent years in some high-profile cases in the Washington area. A team of commando-style robbers carried out a string of bank heists in the District and Maryland in 2004, armed with assault rifles and handguns. At the time, police feared the crimes could be fatal, but the robbers were caught before anyone was seriously hurt. Lanier referenced a 1997 bank robbery in Los Angeles, in which two men armed with AK-47 assault rifles engaged in a shootout with police. Seventeen officers and civilians were injured in the incident, which was captured on videotape. The case set off a debate about the need to better arm police. "They crushed the police," Burke said. "If you were to look at one incident in America that got every single police department to look at their weapons, that's it." Assistant Chief Joshua Ederheimer, who is in charge of the police academy, said officers have been "very well trained." "We want to be prepared to respond to a threat," Ederheimer said. "Hopefully, we'll never have to use them."

I don't know how the gun laws are organized in terms of what types of weapons are allowed to be purchased by regular citizens. As a non-gun person, I would think the broad parameters should be as follows:
(1) Civilians should not be able to buy weapons with police/military specifications unless they go through proper training.
(2) Long guns for hunting purposes would continue but perhaps with limited ammunition magazines. I see no reason why a hunter needs 30 bullet magazines; what the cut-off should be, I don't know.
(3) Long guns for personal protection purposes again with some limits on ammunition magazines; what is an appropriate number?
(4) Hand guns for personal protection purposes with some limits on ammunition magazines; what is an appropriate number?
(5) Some kind of rigorous background checking system.

Will it be effective?

I don't know. The gun-rights side would say that criminals will still be able to get these weapons and even more powerful ones through illegal sources. Sad but true.

How do we combat illegal gun purchases perhaps an even more important issue to address?