so seriously, what do people think a gun registry is going to do to stop a crazy man?

[alabama_for_obama]

The guy in Aurora was taken alive by the police. What would a registry do to have stopped this shooting from happening? I doubt this guy was under any serious illusion that he was going to get away with it. Has there ever been a gun crime solved or prevented because of a gun registry?

[Fresh_Start]

1. what you get from a registry is a source of information that you can compare to other information

for example you could find out which a-hole just bought 5000 rounds of ammunition and body armor.

It doesn't work by itself, but its a building block.

[riverbendviewgal]

3. Just buying that much ammunition and those weapons

in the short time seems to me to be a red flag going up.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. So you would want to register body armor, ammunition, gas masks, and what else?

Go look at how much ammunition is sold in this country alone. Who would make those queries and track that data? Who has that kind of resources outside of Google? (who probably already does)

[hack89]

36. You can use the Patriot Act as the basis for such a tracking system

I am certain that the government can be trusted.

[4th law of robotics]

39. Universal surveillance, removal of "innocent until proven guilty provisions", random searches

of course no limits on when/where the police can search and spontaneous nighttime raids on peoples homes without a warrant would do wonders to cut down on criminal activities.

And then we could finally be free.

[alabama_for_obama]

2. is it illegal

to buy 5000 rounds of ammunition and body armor? some target shooters go through that in a week.

[geckosfeet]

5. They go through body armor? And gas canisters?

[safeinOhio]

7. Then they be rich.n/t

[GarroHorus]

17. Interesting definition of rich.

You can get 5000 rounds pretty cheap in some sales for high volumes.

[safeinOhio]

25. May be 22s.

260,000/year will not be cheap, even in high volumes for larger rounds.

What would be your best prices for 45s, 30.06 or even 223s for a 1/4 million rounds. I'd be willing to bet it is more than I make a year at my job.

[alabama_for_obama]

37. Apparently

There is money to be made in competitive target shooting. And some people are rich. I've met dudes that go around buying 20 grand worth of ammo at a pop to feed their machine guns.

[geckosfeet]

4. When he bought 6000 rounds, ballistic gear and gas canisters some type of cross reference

could have been to alert authorities.

Maybe?

Probably not. But why not at least make it possible?

Registries could also be useful in tracking gun ownership, and determining trafficking patterns. It's just a law enforcement tool. And we all want law enforcement to do their jobs. Don't we?

[gejohnston]

9. trafficking patterns?

please explain, you think traffickers will register the guns at each step on the route?

[geckosfeet]

31. Oh please. If a gun is bought from a dealer you know who it was sold to.

Unless they used fake id etc. If the guns sourced from a particular dealer end up in a lot of crimes you have something to look at. The dealer and his customers.

You have to start somewhere. You have to make an honest effort. If you refuse to even try, or obstruct any effort then you are contributing to the problem.

[gejohnston]

35. we have that already

I fully understand that, but I was referring after the first owner.

[wandy]

22. By the same token, buying fertilizer and 30 gallons of diesel fule.....

would also alert the authorities.
This might really tick off a farmer trying to plant the crops.

[petronius]

30. In a way, I'll bet that cross-referencing actually happened - in the

bowels of some internet marketing computer system. I'm sure the google-ads served up to Holmes are quite relevant to his interests...

[GarroHorus]

6. IT wouldn't do ANYTHING, but it would make them FEEL better taking away YOUR rights. nt

[HockeyMom]

10. Would letting people carry guns into that theatre have helped?

Dozens of panicked people just shooting? More wanna be Clint Eastwoods? How about more dead people?

[GarroHorus]

12. I never claimed it would.

Cinemark owns the theater and Cinemark bans all guns from its property, so there is no question about there being guns all over the place in the theater.

Their house, their rules.

[gejohnston]

19. the tear gas helped

remember, he was throwing tear gas grenades before he opened fire. To answer your question, how many were simply panicked and how many were effects of the gas, or both?

[spin]

21. I have a carry permit and had I been in the theater ...

I would have been very hesitant to engage the shooter unless he would have been at arm's distance. Since he was wearing body armor my .38 snub nosed revolver would have proved ineffective anyhow.

[wandy]

23. Goshes mam, that is one frightening thought........

Take one whacked out shooter fireing off rounds in smoky darkness.
Now add 10 or 15 Zimmermans trying to play John Wayne.
All of them just pointing at the last muzzle flash in the smoky dark.
Darn it HockeyMom just the thought of how much larger the kill count would have been is the stuff nightmares are made from.

[rl6214]

32. I went and saw the Dark Knight Rises thursday nite and I WAS carrying my concealed handgun

Nothing happened.

[safeinOhio]

14. It'd put a big dent in straw sales.

Make it much harder to sell stolen handguns and more dangerous for those that do. It would shed more light of where illegal guns came from. It would make it easier to take away handguns from those convicted of violent crimes or committed to mental hospitals.

There is nothing unconstitutional about handgun registration. States have been doing it for years without court interference. Show us any federal court that said it violates the 2nd.

[GarroHorus]

18. Enfocing the existing laws would put a big dent in straw sales

Why not start there?

[alabama_for_obama]

20. there are already police lists of stolen guns, if people report them as stolen to the police.

I imagine stolen guns are not going to be sold very regularly to law abiding citizens, so tell me again: how does a registry stop them from being sold to other criminals?

I'll give you credit for it being easier to take away guns (why just handguns??) from those convicted of violent crimes or people who had been committed for mental issues. That is one benefit that hasn't been discussed much. But you'd think people convicted of violent crimes should be removed from society in general, no?

[safeinOhio]

24. Most gun crimes are handgun crimes.

You could easily buy a stolen gun in a private sale with out knowing it. You will never stop all illegal gun sales, the best we can do is make it more difficult for the criminal while making it as easy as it is currently to buy a legal handgun from a dealer.

People that are convicted of violent crimes serve their sentence and are then released. I'd also be in favor of treating violent criminals, that use a gun in a crime, being treated like sex offenders. Have to register when they move and the like.

[Warpy]

8. Nothing but provide another bit of evidence

to lock his murderous ass far away from the rest of us.

Stiffer regulations on magazine sizes might have slowed him down and reduced the carnage, especially if some brave soul tackled him while he was reloading, something which has happened in other mass shootings.

Tracking large purchases of ammo + riot gear might have gotten him investigated, the agents noticing he'd gone completely off the rails and getting him some treatment while confiscating the arsenal.

We can never stop these people. We can slow them down.

[alabama_for_obama]

13. you have obviously never handled a gun, much less reloaded one.

takes about a second. maybe less. and you think that making a large capacity magazine is rocket science? they cost about $20 retail. they are small, easy to smuggle, and people want them. They are not going anywhere. and besides, where do you draw the line? 1 shot? 2, 5, 10, 30? what is reasonable? I don't see the point in the magazine bans.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. Magazine size was not a serious issues. You can change a standard 30 rd magazine very quickly

I have read he also had a shotgun and 2 pistols. Read elsewhere that he started with the shotgun.

I will be interested to see if tackling him was possible. Not enough out yet on the physicality of the situation. Same goes for the sequence of events.

[Warpy]

27. 30? Try 10.

That's a lot of stopping and starting and rummaging for ammo or the other guns.

Remember, slowing them down is the aim. Slowing them down can provide an opportunity to stop them.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

28. I have read that his magic magazine jammed, not unlike Loughner

Don't know if that is true yet, lots of stuff being posted, some of it contradictory. No real pro would use one.

[GarroHorus]

29. High capacity drum magazines jam all the time

If I'm ever in a situation like that, I HOPE the bastard is using a drum magazine because the chances of it jamming are much higher than with a low capacity mag.

[alabama_for_obama]

38. For real. n/t

[rl6214]

33. Do you know how many shots Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter got off?

170 shots using only ten round magazines. He changed mags 17 times while killing 32 and injuring 17. A 10 round mag didn't slow him down.

[alabama_for_obama]

16. so if they do nothing

but provide a bit of evidence in an already airtight case... can you tell me a single incident where a gun registry solved a gun crime or was significant/important in prosecuting a real crime?

[Warpy]

26. What makes you think all cases are airtight?

[Euromutt]

34. It didn't stop Michael Ryan, Marc Lépine, Valery Fabrikant...

...Thomas Hamilton, Robert Steinhäuser, Huan Yun Xiang, Kimveer Gill, Bastian Bosse, Derrick Bird, Tristan van der Vlis... I could go on.

[4th law of robotics]

40. He didn't use 6000 rounds

limiting him to a few hundred (a trivial amount for a day of target shooting) would have accomplished precisely nothing.

Not allowing him to buy body armor would have accomplished nothing.