Guns, No Butter

Too much killing, too much heartbreak.  Americans with 88 guns per 100 persons (now totaling 310 million guns in a nation of about 320 million) are the ones who have created an armed society.

We are like Somalia when it comes to the easy availability of firearms...see

 "According to ATF reports, in 2010 there were 5,459,240 new firearms manufactured in the United States, nearly all (95 percent) for the U.S. market. An additional 3,252,404 firearms were imported to the United States. That's nearly 8.5 million new firearms on the street in one year.

Right now if you don't have a criminal record and you have not been adjudicated as mentally incompetent, you can buy guns. In 2011 the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) ran 16,454,951 background checks for firearms purchases. Only a small number of these purchases (78,211 or 0.48 percent) were denied."  ABC NEWS STATS

To give you an idea of how many this means

At it's peak in March 1945, the U.S. Army had 8,200,000 personnel. A comparison of Army Ground Forces strength with total U.S. Army strength is provided below.

Date           Strength U.S. Army    Strength Army Ground Forces    Percent of U.S. Army
31 Dec 1941    1,657,157                            867,462                               52.4%
31 Dec 1942    5,398,888                           1,937,917                               35.9%
31 Dec 1943    7,582,434                            2,551,007                       33.6%
31 Mar 1945    8,157,386                           2,753,517                       33.8%

Source: Greenfield, Palmer, & Wiley. US Army in World War II, The Organization of Ground Combat Troops

In other words...in 2010, Americans legally purchased over three times the number of firearms which would have been needed to arm the entire US Army ground forces in World War II (the study did not break out USAAF).  How much weaponry is enough for a "well-regulated militia?"

A modest proposal...each person who legally purchases a firearm must

1) register it and be trained in its use (not just the safe use of a firearm)

2) Have it microchipped by the manufacturer and registered in a national database

3) If it is stolen b/c the owner has not secured the weapon properly and the weapon is then used in a felony, the original owner will be liable for the same criminal penalties as the perpetrator and a $1 Million fine payable to the victims of that crime.  And

4) Every person who purchases a firearm, in accordance with my (not SCOTUS) reading of the Second Amendment, must join the National Guard in their state for not less than 1 term of Enlistment and be subject to call-up when directed by their state or by the federal govt.