Project Steelman: Gun Control

[Basman]

If America became authoritarian, most people's lives would probably not change significantly. You would live normally and probably actually think less about politics due to there being less news. Just can't criticize the government too much. 

I don't think such a situation would inspire many to rebel and "take up arms" in my opinion. 

[trenton]

My current position regarding gun control has changed now. It is more complicated than it was previously. Here is my current policy and why. It is mixed with caveats and auxillary policies loosely related to gun control.

Given that criminal gangs have access to illegal firearms anyway, I want to avoid scenarios in which I would be endangering innocent people by not giving them the gun they need. Although not well known or discussed, there are cases in which regulations delayed a person in need of a firearm long enough for them to be killed due to an active assailant. My grandpa isn't the only case.

That said, people in extreme scenarios demonstrate that the aggregate welfare argument isn't as clean as it first appears due to screening delays realistically getting innocent people killed. Additionally, if a person needs to demonstrate a documented danger, then it might either already be too late or they might not be believed if they try to report an attack which often happens. The case of Carol Bowne in New Jersey, killed by an ex-partner in 2015 while her gun permit application was pending is a commonly sited example in which gun delays got an innocent person killed.

Therefore, gun restrictions need to be more tailored to target specific risk profiles while recognizing that gangs and weapons traffickers ignore these policies anyway. The profiles that should be restricted more narrowly are suicidal and violent felony files. Most gun deaths in america are caused by suicide, so it makes sense to more narrowly screen for mental health problems.

The problem with screening for violent felons is that most violent felons are never detected until years later if at all. An obvious example would be policing failures in cases of domestic violence in which homicide by firearm is common. Therefore, the auxillary policies for gun control should target enforcement for domestic violence. One example is how police officers commonly disregard child witnesses who truthfully report abuse from adults. Therefore, if a child witness calls 911 to report domestic abuse, the police should route the child to a program that would actually help such as 988 or something similar for crisis management. The police data on domestic violence can't be trusted because of their detection problem which undercounts the prevalence of the issue.

Of course in my particular backstory, I obviously wouldn't want drug addicts like my family members having guns. That would have been a catastrophe if they had guns in that house while they couldn't be trusted.

Either way the screening fails. If too strict, then people who need a gun can't get one in time. If violent felons aren't detected, then they will get guns anyway. If the screening process requires a judge to believe someone who reports danger from either direction, then that creates room for error. Either way a victim won't be believed if someone is dangerous and shouldn't have a gun or if they are in active danger and need a gun very soon. Documented danger must by definition require said danger to have already happen, in which case the threat to a person's life must therefore precede documentation.

It now looks like I am tentatively leaning pro gun because of this argument with more limited restrictions. These seem to be the hardest cases to argue against for anti-gun.

I think I will need to go back and see if I can steel man the anti-gun position further. If not, then I think my present policy position is sound while maintaining that mass shootings require better security if people can access illegal firearms anyway. We need a better approach for combating gang related activities such as drug, sex, and weapons trafficking that doesn't endanger innocent people who need a gun.