Our society misses the obvious when we clamor for "gun control" or wrestle to find ways of creating some invasive ability, such as making it mandatory for mental health professionals to report an unbalanced person before they commit an act of gun violence!

I offer a new twist on the saying "Guns don't kill people, people do".

Consider this obvious fact:A firearm, in and of itself is harmless. Most of them, alone, would make dandy paper weights, book ends or decorative wall hangings.

Guns need to be "fed" in order to become lethal weapons. Guns "eat" bullets.

Only once it has been fed is the sporting, hunting, or criminal power of the now bullet-enabled gun able to be unleashed.

It still requires a human being to pull the trigger.

I submit that we need to control neither the gun nor the human.

Remove, interrupt, restrict, control, understand and track gun feed (bullets) from the point of manufacture to the point of public availability and on to the firearm owner and we will reduce the firearms violence.

1. Physically separate the point of purchase of a firearm from that for bullets. Make it just a tad more difficult to connect gun and bullet in a one stop shop.

2. Without excessive regulation and without excessive privacy invasion, establish a system of "certification" for buyers of ammunition that lists their use for a fire arm i.e. personal protection; deer hunting; target shooting.

3. Assign each buyer a unique ID to be presented, along with valid form of personal identification (the two must match) when buying "ammo". They can buy all the guns they want - no questions asked. Understand, Mr. Buyer, your ammunition purchase history is "on the record".

4. Staff the "ammo store" with TRAINED sales people who have military, law enforcement, psych or other medical training. This is not a minimum wage job. Train and pay them well as professionals.

5. Perhaps have the "ammo store" run by the State as is done in NH and VT with liquor and makes a nice profit for the State. Or, establish the ammo store under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement and place it physically as part of law enforcement facilities.

6. Also control the various parts and equipment needed to make ammunition. Control the brass, gun powder, and stamping and filing equipment used for home manufacture of ammo. Now that does not say that a musket enthusiast can not have all the ammo making supplies he wants. It does say that a gang member in South Chicago is not going to easily set up a black market ammo factory for his closest friends.

Examples:

Joe Smith is an NRA member and an avid outdoorsman. Known in town for his big game prowess. He registers as an ammo buyer. At the store he waves hello to the staff as a "known local" and is unchallenged in buying 200 shot gun shells 5 days before deer season opens. The purchase makes sense. It tracks. And it becomes part of his patter of ammo-buying saved in his history file. He likely never draws attention because all his purchases "fit" his gun use and ammo requirement profile.

Sam Jones is military. He easily registers as an ammo buyer stating in his profile the need for self protection and target practice. First time he buys ammo it is for his Glock - 100 bullets. No problem. A week later he's back, perhaps at a different time of day or different store in the next County. He gets 50 bullets for a Colt; 10 days later 150 slugs for a rifle in an out of state store At some point, however, this guy's purchase profile - as to frequency, the amount of ammo, caliber etc is computer-flagged by a central computer system run by ATFE for attention. He might have to explain himself to a trained interviewer the next time. Or, perhaps someone knocks on his door asking about his ammo buying. Military base shooting avoided?

Lun E Toon starts hatching his mall, theater or school shooting plan.

Ummm? I can go buy a Glock, an AK47 and 3 AR-15's. No probemo.

But boy, I'm gonna need a lot of ammo.

Ahhh, but there's a problem. Not only do I have to get an ammo buying permit, I have to go down to the State or County Ammo Store to start amassing my stash. I have to drive into the police station parking lot!! I have to walk in "there"???

The thought of staring into the steel cold eyes of a uniformed State Trooper who is clearly practicing behavioral analysis techniques and asking too many questions?? That scares the willies out of Lun E Toon. Too much to bear.

Lun E Toon's Mass Cas plan gets abandoned;the threat to innocent citizens is averted.

No law abiding gun owning average Citizen or NRA member should ever in his right mind, object to a small amount of personal inconvenience if it means, collectively, that we reduce and eliminate what has become a staple on the news: "Yet another shooting in a school, pizza shop, military deployment center or hospital".

This is simple Risk Management 101:

Control the bullet and you do not need to control the gun or owner.. Over time as bullets become scarce and unavailable to the wrong folks, you will solve a large part of the problem without needlessly treading on anyone's Constitutional Right to Bear Arms or invading their privacy - medical or otherwise.