GUN CONTROL THAT MIGHT ACTUALLY WORK

Forget the proposals for tougher gun controls put forth by President Obama every time there is a mass shooting; there is a better way to prevent the killings

I’m sure you’ve heard the oft repeated phrase, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Well, chew on this one for a while. Guns don’t kill people, bullets kill people. It’s a truth that what comes out of the barrel of a gun is what kills people, not the gun itself.

Every time there is a mass shooting President Obama weeps and wails about the need for tougher gun controls. In the wake of the San Bernardino shooting, Hillary Clinton has piped in with her two bits worth on the need for tougher gun controls. The New York Times ran a front page editorial Saturday saying that no citizen should be able to purchase or possess a military-style rifle. And true to form, in his Sunday evening address from the Oval Office, Obama joined The Times by calling for a ban on assault rifles.

None of the proposals by Obama, Hillary and the New York Times are going to prevent mass shootings or the daily shootings by gangbangers. No, not with an estimated 300 million guns already owned by Americans and with more being purchased each day.

But there is a gun control that might actually work. If Congress passed a law banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handgun and rifle ammunition that would really have an effect on gun deaths in this country. Eventually the supply of ammo now held by law abiding citizens and criminals would dry up. Not only would gun death then all but disappear, but there would be no more robberies by firearm and the gangbangers would be reduced to pistol whipping each other. There would also be far fewer young black men killed by white cops.

While The Times editorial said “It is a moral outrage and national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency,” the editors would have been more truthful had they said it is a moral outrage and national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase ammunition designed to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency.

With a ban on the manufacture of handgun and rifle ammunition, how would our military and law enforcement agencies get their small arms ammunition? That can be solved with Congress passing a law that allows the army to establish ammunition manufacturing facilities on one or more of its military bases. The only outsiders that would be able purchase any ammo from the army would be our law enforcement agencies and they should be able to make those purchases at cost.

Now you say, “Hey, hold your horses! What about us hunters?” Well fellas, you’ll just have to go back to basics. Bass Pro Shops, Gander Mountain and Cabela’s will be only too happy to sell you their compound-bow packages.

There are those of you who will say that the Mexican cartels will just love the ban on ammo. They’ll start manufacturing their own and smuggle it into the United States. That’s easier said than done. It will be much harder to conceal ammo than illegal drugs and it will be much easier to detect the illegal ammunition shipments.

Finally, what about the Second Amendment? It says: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." It doesn’t say a word about ammunition. The ammunition ban would keep the Second Amendment intact and people would still be free to purchase and own as many guns as they want.

Again, a law banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handgun and rifle ammunition is a gun control that might actually work. And with that ban, all you gun owners out there wouldn’t have to worry about the government confiscating your firearms.

But don’t worry guys, no one will have to pry your bullets from your cold dead hands. Congress would never ever pass any such law.