Some common sense gun control. [View all]

Somewhere between banning all guns, and allowing guns to freely proliferate, there lies a place where common sense gun control to take place.

Face it, we're not going to get rid of all guns, as some here wish. But neither is the issue of gun control going to go away. So we need to do what we can, and take this moment of national reflection and sorrow to enact common sense gun control.

The first place we can start is reinstating the ban on assault weapons. They are not designed for hunting, or that great at home defense. They are, for the most part, eye candy for the gun lover, a weapon that civilians can have that is as close to an AK-47 as is legally possible. We can reinstate the ban on them with little or no problem, given the events of the past six months.

Further, we can instate a ban on high capacity clips and magazines. This makes practical sense, and should be done. The public is in favor of this, especially in light of recent events.

Tougher to do, but still probably doable are closing the gunshow loopholes and beefing up background checks, especially mental health checks. We can also get more support in order to actually apply the gun control measures that are already out there.

However, we can only ban these certain items. Public sentiment would quickly turn south if we started demanding that people turn in their assault weapons or high capacity magazines. If we start demanding that, then the worst specter of the NRA is going to be unleashed, namely federal agents coming to get your guns. Not going to happen, now or in the far future.

These are the doable, common sense gun control policies that can be enacted at this point. Rather than demanding the impossible, I suggest that we set our sights on doing the achievable. Otherwise we will simply be spinning our wheels and tossing away a great opportunity.