(08-04-2019, 10:02 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(08-04-2019, 08:29 PM)TheO-LineMatters Wrote: How do you propose this gets done? We could ban them as all the Democrats have proposed, but there are already an estimated 5 million semi automatic military style rifles already out there on the street. There is NO WAY to get those back without causing an all out civil war. I live in rural Ohio and I would say 75% of the people I know in this area (old and young a like,) own at least one of these types of guns, but we've never had a problem here. People where I live learn to respect guns from a very young age. You are taught they are not toys. You learn gun safety and target shooting early on. People out here, respect their neighbors and human life in general.

I agree that you can't "get them back." But you could require them to be registered, and for the owners to regularly show up for classes where they demonstrate proficiency with them.  Sure, a lot of people would loudly disobey at first, but if we were determined to do it, the guns would most all be registered within a generation.

I know a lot of people say that registration is just a step away from confiscation.  Maybe, but the government won't be able to suddenly confiscate a significant number of these weapons by surprise.  And if there's no surprise, people will hand their registered weapon off to buddies temporarily.  

Long story short, there is stuff the government could do, but most of it wouldn't bear fruit for decades even if we started trying now.