A Gun Free America in 6 Easy Steps

Gun violence is an epidemic rivaled only by COVID-19 in our time. As we are taking progressive steps to eliminate COVID, so we should also work to eliminate guns in America. I have a plan that could result in a gun free America within a generation.

1. Congress must add several Supreme Court justices to undo the harmful and immoral work done by the Trump administration
2. Pass a bill to add all existing firearms to the NFA Registry and give a refundable tax credit to offset registration fees. Close the registry after the initial 90 day registration period.
3. Pass a bill revoking Federal Firearms Licenses in interstate commerce. Authorize the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives to build a database of all gun purchases in the past 20 years using the 4473s held by the closed FFLs.
4. Order the BATFE to begin a review of the existing NFA Registry and cross-reference the known records. Use the resources of the BATFE and FBI to track down any inaccurate records.
5. Work with the major banks and credit card companies to purchase records pertaining to the private purchases of firearms to correlate with the 4473s as in step 4.
6. Once a suitable period has passed to allow inconsistent records to be reconciled, use a combination of civil and criminal sanctions to encourage those who are illegally holding unregistered guns to turn them in. This can include: using bank KYC rules to restrict their financial transactions, use the no-fly list to prevent interstate and international travel, use e-verify to prevent employment and use the social security database to contact existing employers.

Thus the vast majority of firearms in private hands will be known and restricted within several months, the stragglers will be dealt with within several years, and within a generation guns will be out of private hands without repealing the Second Amendment or causing a large scale violent conflict.