Build Your own Gun Laws : What would YOU do ?

[Danimal]

To answer all of your questions you need to look inside the mind of a human being and understand the decision making process. While you go about your daily life, you make literally hundreds of choices. The thought develops in your conscious mind, triggers an impulse and then you perform an action. The process can get interrupted though, and most people have control of their actions. Think about that feeling when you are standing at the top of a cliff and you can feel that sinking feeling in your stomach as it feels like it is pulling you over, like you are going to jump. Your mind has developed a thought and you feel the impulse to jump but your control over your action stops you because there is a consequence to the action that is a secondary effect to the impulse that you are feeling. Now to apply this to a criminal mind there are two scenarios:

1) The criminal does not fear the consequences of the actions they are about to take.
2) The criminal has no control of their mind and thereby no way to interrupt the impulse action stage.

Response to #1: From here it is clear to see that there is a problem much deeper than a simple modification of rules. This is why bans of any sort will not work. Where there is a will there is a way. I know that you have all heard that phrase, but think about it for a second. It should be clear that there are two operatives here to disrupt an action. You can kill the will, or control the means (way) to accomplish a task. It should be apparent to everyone on here that attacking the methods or means does little because there will always be another way to accomplish their will. So that means that the only solution for the rational criminal is to make the consequences outweigh the perceived benefits of their actions. Make them fear or respect the consequences of their actions and they will not commit the crime. It is that simple.

Response to #2: Obviously in this situation a person that has no control over their actions should not own a firearm for any reason. There are deep seeded psychological issues that are present that preclude any rational thought and for that there is little that we can do to change the way that people are. But how do you distinguish this person from another? The simple answer is that you can't. There is a grey area here that you really do not want to get into, because the tables can turn and people that should own guns could otherwise be deemed unfit, or it could be used as a metric to control who has firearms based on an outside influence. That is a dangerous road to walk. So then what this comes down to is we all need to do our part. Lock up your guns when you cannot protect them. Do not leave them in your car unattended. Do not go through with a private sale if you do not feel comfortable. Get a CCW and training so that if by chance you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, or right place at the right time (depending on how you look at it) you can take action and be the solution to an unsolvable problem where it surfaces. We as responsible gun owners need to 24/7 live the part to the best of our abilities. That is the only solution that I can think of.

You cannot legislate against the acts of a mad man, and you cannot protect people from their own devices by way of law. We need to grow up as a society and take responsibility for our actions and responsibility for our safety and livelihood. We only get one chance at a life worth living regardless of occupation, pay grade, religion or any other thread that makes us human. This is what our founding fathers meant when they created the constitution. But there are two sides; we need to live up to the constitution if we expect to enjoy its protections. Our society is crumbling and the lack of personal responsibility is the common thread. Enforce standing laws, and make the punishment severe enough to deter all but those inescapable of rational thought, then base our society off of the longstanding moral principals that should accompany all men that are created equal.