Cicero6
1/26/2013 11:14 AM EST
Here is my solution: (1) Define the problem, narrowly and correctly. IF we are truly concerned about kids (in school) then the rest of the wide world of gun violence is EXCLUDED from the discussion. If we are talking about gun violence (in general) then the incident at Newtown has no more significance than a lightning strike or a shark attack. It's horrible, it's tragic, and it's RARE. Make up your minds which problem you are trying to address. (2) Remove it from the realm of politics and hand it to the experts. Go through the formal risk assessment process (and God knows the government has tons of experience doing this kind of thing for itself since Oklahoma City.) Schools are already incldued in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) so this won't be overly hard. President Obama could order this review by executive order...no politics involved. (3) Develop a national risk posture on this issue (it will be a combination of avoidance, acceptance, and deterrence). In doing this it is necessary to understand that NO zero risk, zero casualty posture is possible. No one can give you that kind of "safety." Develop measurable standards for determining the efficacy of this posture. (4) Once objective one , two, and three are achieved, THEN we can have a discussion on the best mitigation strategy...which may or may not require additional legislation. Such legislation should be based in an OPERATIONAL characteristic of the firearms, in question, AND upon a measurable impact upon one of the elements of the risk posture. The key word, here, is measurable. (5) Mandate sunset clauses and periodic reviews to ensure that any thing (law or countermeasure) implemented does what it is supposed to do by a date certain. Build in checks that prevent expansion of the laws (or countermeasures) that do not satisfy the stated criteria. No review or sunset clause should be longer than ten years.
Voila, problem solved.