I’ve always been at odds with this topic due to my liberal leanings on most matters but staunch defense of the 2nd Amendment.

That being said, there are steps that can be taken to reduce gun deaths, especially accidents, teen suicides, crimes committed with stolen guns, and illegally obtained/possessed guns.

I don’t consider these things to be gun control though, because… well, it just doesn’t feel like it is “control”.

1a) The IRS should offer a tax credit for those who purchase a qualifying gun safe. Either a strong handgun lockbox or a full fledged fireproof vault-style safe. Essentially it would just be a percentage of the purchase price back on one’s tax return. Because if reducing crimes committed with guns is a public good, we should be making every effort to ensure that everyone has the financial means to responsibly store their guns where kids and burglars can’t get to them.

1b) Same goes for insurance companies. Homes with safes should (in theory) have somewhat less liability, therefore insurance premiums should be reduced accordingly. Just another small financial incentive to get people to store their guns in the safest possible way.

2) The FBI should make NICS an open system available for anyone to use from any internet connected computer or device. That way private transfers can be accomplished with voluntary background checks being performed. I’d say leave it voluntary for a while and perform a statistical analysis of the system’s usage to determine whether voluntary works or if there should be a legal mandate to perform background checks on all transfers.

3) The FBI employees that currently work in the NICS call center should be repurposed to collect data from courts and law enforcement to constantly update the NICS system to prevent criminals slipping through the cracks.

4a) Law enforcement should be made to prioritize the confiscation of firearms from persons that have been disqualified from legal possession. If there is any reason to believe that they have access to a gun after committing a disqualifying offense, the local agency needs to go in and take them away.

4b) Since these people would be clearly guilty of illegal possession of a firearm, they should be sentenced to a mandatory minimum sentence in prison (Strike One=30 Days, Strike Two= 180 days, Strike Three= 1 year, or something to that effect, possibly more severe) because a criminal (felon, parolee, house arrest, etc.) willing to risk getting caught with an illegal gun is probably planning to use that gun for something and they need to be off the streets just to disrupt any plans they had.

Those are just a few of things this liberal gun owner would like to see happen in the near future. My hope is that they properly bridge the divide between the two ideologies and could serve to save some lives without unduly restricting any law abiding citizens.