“In our country 80% of homicides are committed with guns, whereas in England the figure is only 4 %.
More Americans have died of gunshot wounds in the United States since 1968 than have been killed in all the wars we have fought here and abroad since 1775.”
Those are a couple compelling, attention-getting facts recently presented by Joseph Blocher, a distinguished professor of law at Duke University.
SOME U.S. GUN STATS: There was covid-period record-setting statistics associated with fire arms.
- In 2021, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S.,more than in any other year on record,
- Some gun-data history: While 2021 saw the highest total number of gun deaths in the U.S., this statistic does not take into account the nation’s growing population. On a per capita basis, there were 14.6-gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2021; the highest rate since the early 1990s, but still well below the peak of 16.3-gun deaths per 100,000 people in 1974.
- Suicides have long accounted for the majority of U.S. gun deaths. In 2021, 54% of all gun-related deaths were suicides, 26,328.
- 18,874, the number of firearm deaths, excluding suicides in 2023.
- 36,357, the number of firearm injuries in 2023.
- 6,192, the number of children and teenagers shot in 2023.
- 14 million, the number of guns Americans purchased in 2023.
- An estimated 82.9 million people owned at least one firearm in 2023.
- In 2023 the average decrease in homicides across U.S. cities was 12.3% and gun injuries declined in record amounts since 2021.
- Gun sales have declined steadily since 2020.
- 494.4 million, the cumulative total of firearms produced for the U.S. market since 1899.
- Gun ownership increased 28% from 1994 to 2023.
- In 2023, 72% of gun owners said they keep a firearm for protection.
- Only 6.06 million firearms are registered in the U.S.
- Women accounted for half of all gun purchases between 2019 and 2021 and first-time gun owners were more likely to be female.
- An estimated 40% of 52 million households have a least one firearm.
- An interesting fact is that federal data over the past 50 years show a direct relationship between the number of guns produced and deaths from fire arms for that same period.
These facts beg an answer to the question, can there be an intelligent discussion about gun control leading perhaps to some resolution?
As of right now gun control is hopelessly in the hands of politicians. The Republicans simply say, “I support the Second Amendment” which is a non-solution, implying the status quo is fine. It isn’t fine.
The Democrats seem to imply that “gun control” is synonymous with “outlaw all guns.” Not a reasonable, practical, or intelligent approach.
With those two hardline political positions, neither party appears to be looking for a practical, workable, fair solution that keeps in place the “right to bear arms” guaranteed by the second amendment to the Constitution as well as increased safe-guards against the availability of guns to those who would use then to harm themselves and others. We need a plan, not an argument. Any planning process begins with assembling facts and assumptions and articulating a desired end state.
FACTS AND ASSUMPTIONS RELEVENT TO ANY GUN CONTROL PLAN:
How many fire arms are in circulation in the U.S? No one knows for sure but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms has conducted exhaustive studies as recently as 2023 and concluded from historical production rates, exports and attrition rates over many decades that there could be as many as 378 million guns in circulation in the U.S.
Fact, there are no existing federal laws requiring all guns to be registered by local, state or federal authorities.
Fact, serial numbers on newly manufactured guns became more standardized and required by law in the United States with the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968. But there are many tens of millions of guns in circulation without a serial number.
Fact, we do not know who has firearms or how many each individual owns.
Bottom line fact: there is no national data base of information with which to develop consistent “control” laws for all U.S. citizen gun owners.
Fact, in recent years women’s firearm ownership has increased 178%. Assumption, this is for self-protection from our on-going crisis of lawlessness.
Assumption, there are tens of millions of guns in homes across the U.S. that have not been used for long periods of time and under the right circumstances could be given up by the owners. Case in point, in my younger years I hunted frequently and still have a number guns that I have not used or even fired for several decades. I could/would turn them in and take them out of circulation.
Part assumption, part fact, THEY ARE COMING FOR YOUR GUNS, NOW.
Bottom line fact, President Biden desperately wants his legacy to include gun removal from private citizens, the Second Amendment be damned.
BIPATISAN SAFER COMMUNITIES ACT: On June 25, 2022, President Biden signed into law this Act which is the first major federal gun control bill passed since the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban.
The Act has more to do with mental health, school safety, and funding for related programs than it does with banning or restricting specific types of firearms, which is likely why it received enough Republican support to pass the House and Senate.
COURSE OF ACTION ONE FOR GUN CONTROL:
March, 2024, Biden’s Department of so-called Justice launched an initiative, under the guise of the Safer Communities Act to confiscate your guns. The National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center is designed to provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement officials, prosecutors, attorneys, judges, clinicians, victim service and social service providers, community organizations, and behavioral health professionals responsible for implementing laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or others.
“Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “The launch of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center will provide our partners across the country with valuable resources to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others. The establishment of the Center is the latest example of the Justice Department’s work to use every tool provided by the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to protect communities from gun violence.”
Most will admit on the surface some of the provisions could be helpful. But when put into practice it can become a national disaster. Keep in mind this national program was not authorized by Congress. This is a Biden administration Executive Order-type operation.
The operable questions here are, who are the people who, “pose a threat”? Where does the information/intelligence emanate from? Who is authorized to raise this “red flag”? Is the information coming from a disgruntled neighbor? From a jilted lover? From a jealous workmate? From a hated family member? From an “extremist”?
Keep in mind that your president has declared in a prime-time speech that, “MAGA extremists are a threat to America.” There you have it you will be doing the president’s bidding if you turn in your neighbor who is part of the 75-100 million citizens who the democrats categorize as MAGA extremist members; most of whom are probably gun owners. And don’t forget that 72% of them own guns for personal protection of their family in Biden’s lawless society.
Supporters of ERPO say that using ERPO authority as a confiscation tool is a far-fetched claim.
Far-fetched?
If I had claimed on 20 January 2021 that Biden would turn the southern border over to the Mexican cartels you would have said, that’s too far-fetched.
If I had told you the porous border would allow such volume of illegal drugs that over 300 drug overdoses would happen every day with no counter action by the president, you would have said, that’s too farfetched.
If I had told you the Biden administration would create a border situation that would allow millions of criminals, gang members, cartel operatives, terrorists, drug dealers and human traffickers into the U.S., you would have said, that’s too farfetched.
If I had said Biden would cut and run from Afghanistan leaving $70 billion dollars’ worth of military arms and equipment for the Taliban, you would have said, that’s too farfetched.
I could go on and on: ruined the military, insulted long-term allies, pulled sanctions from Iran thereby enriching them, abandoned our energy independence and then begged for imported oil from Venezuela, reduced the strategic oil reserves to dangerous levels, supported defunding police setting off the rise of a lawless America, put together the perfect storm for inflation to rise from 1.4% to 9%, caused interest rates to quadruple, have taxpayers pay for $1.2 trillion student loan debt, invite 11 million un-vetted illegal aliens into our country and give them a debit card and free travel, etc. etc. If these Biden-created crisis issues had been predicted on 20 January 2021, they would have all seemed too farfetched to become a reality. But here we are.
The point being, do not under-estimate what this administration is ready, willing and able to do to the American public. It’s all about power and control, your constitutional rights be damned.
Currently, the weaponized justice system crisis existing at the local, state and federal levels across the country cannot be trusted to recognize an honest citizen’s right to due process. This red flag operation will likely operate in this order:
First, authorities will accept the accusation that a named person is a threat as fact and immediately pronounce sentencing; confiscate personal weapons, slander the accused’s good name and reputation and finally, perhaps, look for the truth of the accusation that the citizen is a threat to the community and/or themselves.
Interestingly, this new Biden administration arms control roll-out does not focus on the armed and dangerous criminals and gang members who are roaming our streets and guilty of most of the homicides. This is about focusing on you and your guns; the guns that 72% of you say are to protect your family.
Bottom line, Course of Action One could quickly become an authoritarian dictatorial disaster threatening Constitutional rights. And, this is a big AND, the only ones left with guns will be the criminals.
One of the greatest visionaries the world has ever known, Thomas Jefferson.summed it up best about 240 years ago, “There is no justification for taking away individuals’ freedom in the guise of public safety.”
COURSE OF ACTION TWO, REAL ARMS CONTROL
The operative word is “control”. In order to have real arms “control” we have to know where each gun is, who owns it and how to identify it and then reap the benefits from that data. Is that even possible?
Yes, it is possible; think, vehicles. Vehicles are killing machines; more than 44,000 Americans died in vehicle accidents in 2023. Every vehicle is registered. Every vehicle has a serial number. We pay a tax every year for the privilege of owning a vehicle. Every vehicle has to undergo an annual safety inspection. That’s “control.”
You, tens of millions of law-abiding gun owners are saying right now, I don’t want to register my guns because I don’t trust the government with that information. Yes, getting actual “control” over guns in America is going to be an inconvenience and an intrusion, but it is a necessary step if we are going to get to the heart of the gun problem which is armed criminals and gang members killing people in our lawless society. We have to have data to get to the end state. A plan without a declared end state is not a plan. Please just read on.
Full disclosure: I am a gun owner; pistols, rifles, shotguns. As a small boy growing up on an Iowa farm, there were many ways for youngsters to earn 25 or even 50 cents doing special tasks. I saved my money and at age 10 ordered my first gun, a single-shot 22 caliber rifle, from the Sears and Robuck catalog which was about 2 inches thick and the Amazon.com of that era. Not much background checking for a gun purchase in those days. In my younger years I hunted, but most of my guns are of no use to me now. No one in the family wants them. I only need to keep one for family protection. What to do with them? I know folks with the same situation and have done the following: Go to a local gun “show.” As you are unloading the guns you hope to sell at the “show” someone may likely approach you in the parking lot, inquire if you wish to sell them, make you an offer and the next day he/she may be on their way to Chicago with a load of guns that no one in the world knows about and that will be in the hands of street gang members for the next Saturday night Chicago shootout.
COURSE OF ACTION TWO, PHASE ONE:
Spring, 2025, with a new administration in place, Congress could pass the Gun Control Act of 2025. It should not be more than a few pages long and can be published in every newspaper in the country. The Act must contain the following directives:
1.Every county Sheriff’s Department will be the focal point for the Gun Control Act, 2025. All of the data on firearms they collect will be sent to the State to establish an up-to-date accurate gun-data collection point.
2. Any local, state or federal gun registration system currently in-being will become null-and-void upon passage of the Gun Control Act of 2025.
3. Before the end of calendar year 2025, every gun owner will have carried all of their firearms to their local Sheriff’s Department to register their weapons, by make, model caliber and type; for example, Winchester, model 336, 30 caliber, lever-action, rifle, serial number NC123654) and have a serial number engraved if one does not already exist. The states will provide each Sheriff with a block of serial numbers. That data along with the owner’s name and address will be forwarded to the State’s central gun data collection point.
4. Also, while at that 2025 visit to the Sheriff’s Department the owners may turn in any weapons for destruction, no questions asked, as part of a federal government nation-wide Gun Buy-back Program and receive $100 dollars per weapon. The Sheriff’s Department will be responsible for security of those weapons and for operating a weapons destruction program that will be personally observed by a Sheriff’s Deputy. I would probably participate in that program.
5. As of December 2025 every firearm manufactured in the U.S. must have a serial number before sold to dealers. Every firearm imported into the U.S. must have a serial number. And every firearm in the inventory of every gun dealer in the U.S. must have a serial number.
Note, by the end of December, 2025 it is conceivable that every firearm in the country, all 387 million of them, will fall in one of two categories. Category One consists of firearms that are registered/serial numbered, legal and we know exactly where they are located. Category Two consists of all other firearms. It follows that local, state and federal officials can/should participate in a single continuous task, 24/7; that is, find the illegal firearms and whoever possesses them because both are in violation of the law.
This is the beginning of “gun control.”
COURSE OF ACTION TWO, PHASE TWO:
6. January, 2026 the States will assess a $25 tax on every registered gun on the State’s Gun Registry, payable by 31 January, 2026. The owner of the gun has two choices. One, they may pay the tax and receive a 2026 registry card for each firearm, the same system used for the annual registry of vehicles. Two, they may take the firearm along with the tax notice to the Sheriff’s Department, turn in the weapon for destruction, receive $100 from the Federal Gun Buy-back Program, have the gun removed from the State Gun Registry with no tax due.
Note, by the end of Phase Two, 31 January, 2026 it is assumed that perhaps tens of millions of the current estimated 378 million guns in circulation will have ceased to exist as part of the Federal Gun Buy-back Program.
COURSE OF ACTION TWO, PHASE THREE, From 1 February,2026 forward:
7. Anyone in the “possession” of an unregistered/non-serial numbered firearm will have committed a felony offense and will be subject to arrest. “Possession” means on their person, stored where they reside, in their vehicle, in a separate storage facility or any other space that would logically lead one to believe the weapon is, at least temporarily in their “possession.” If the gun has been borrowed from someone else, they are still in “possession.”
8. Anyone arrested for possession of an unregistered/no Serial numbered firearm will be jailed. If that arrest is their first or second, they may be eligible for bail if the presiding judge is led to believe they are not a flight-risk or a threat to society. The judge may not, under any circumstances, set bail for any amount that is less than $100,000. If this is their third or more arrest, “three strikes and out” comes into play. There will be no bail and they will remain in jail until tried and sentenced if found guilty.
9. Under no circumstance will any prosecutor or attorney general or judge be allowed to downgrade the charge of possession of an illegal firearm from a felony to a misdemeanor.
10. If found guilty of possession of an illegal firearm, the sentence will be a minimum of five years in jail without possibility of parole.
11. If I have a registered and serial numbered rifle I don’t need, can I sell it to my neighbor? Sure, just go to the Sheriff’s Office, have them initiate a background check on the buyer and if cleared change the registration data for the owner of that firearm.
WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED?
We have created a plan with positive identifiable end states.
For those individuals who are so depressed and mentally disturbed that they are contemplating suicide, one of the reasons they turn to suicide by gun is that guns are too readily available; 378 million of them. Reduction of the inventory under the Federal Gun Buy-back Program should significantly reduce availability.
Every law-abiding gun owner has participated in a simple federal program that will protect their rights rather than put them in a situation wherein they could, at any time, be unjustifiably labeled a threat to society just because they own a gun.
DETERRENCE IS A POWERFUL FORCE:
Focused local law enforcement. 378 law enforcement officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023. With a justice system that requires incarceration of criminals for possession of a firearm, local law enforcement can focus on arresting those in passion of an illegal firearm.
States’ Bureau of Investigation can focus on the larger issues associated with movement, distribution and sale of illegal firearms in their state.
Focused Federal ATF. The bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms can focus on their mission to,” investigate and prevent federal offenses involving the unlawful use, manufacture, and possession of firearms”. But now, they no longer have to be concerned with all firearms, just that number that are not registered and/or not serial numbered.
With this law supporting all law enforcement agencies those gun “shows” mentioned above will now be crawling with authorities who are inspecting every firearm in the area for a serial number.
More deterrence. Every one of the 1.4 million gang members in the 33,000 U.S. gangs should begin to think twice about strapping on their illegal gun before hitting the streets every night and possibly facing 5 years in jail without parole.
Additionally, with all of this focus and deterrent action, anyone contemplating buying an unregistered gun will find them increasingly scarce commodities and likely very expensive.
This law could/should become a deterrence model for all law enforcement. That is, define the felony along with an appropriate sentence. Some might consider that too controlling but the reality today is we simply cannot trust our prosecutors, attorneys general and judges to act as keepers of the peace for the public’s safety and security.
Recent case in point, a New York police officer, Jonathan Diller, was shot and killed by a career criminal, Guy Revera, who had been arrested 21 times. Eleven times the charges were for a felony offence to include possession of a gun just 12 months earlier. Blood is on the hands of the local prosecutor and judge who allowed Rivera to be on the streets.
What has become common-place is for criminals with long wrap-sheets to be turned loose without bail to commit another crime. This is not rocket-science; career criminals should be in jail thereby reenforcing the deterrence to convince individuals that crime does not pay.
CONCLUSIONS:
We need some type of positive control over the growing inventory of weapons.
The focus of any program should be getting the guns away from criminals NOT from law-abiding citizens.
This plan to focus local, state and federal officials on illegal firearms is another reason in the long list of reasons to close our southern border.
A Federal Buy-back Program is a positive, easy, non-invasive step.
“Gun control” is a serious and very political national issue. It is but should not be politically divisive. We can and should find some satisfying dialogue that protects law abiding citizens and simultaneously targets gun-toting criminals.
If properly presented this issue/plan should become a bipartisan initiative.
If the plan is executed, we may need more prison cells.
This proposed Gun Control Act, 2025 will actually be about rights, responsibilities and creating a better America.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Candidates for federal office in all political parties should, right now, put this gun control program on the campaign platform and support it.
The Biden administration won’t so the next administration should immediately kill the despicable, invasive and probably not Constitutional REPO program the Justice Department is currently launching to confiscate your guns.
Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of VISION TO EXECUTION, a book for leaders, FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA as well as the author of a blog WeThePeopleSpeaking.com