It's imperative that Congress reinstate the Combat Assault Weapons Ban now.

[elleng]

"The U.S. Military Academy’s director of terrorism studies notes that U.S. terrorists have turned to guns, because explosives and explosive materials are monitored more attentively by the government than gun sales....
"— what are we waiting for? How long will we sit idly by and allow terrorists and psychopaths to use our inaction against us?" ~ Martin O'Malley

It's imperative that Congress reinstate the Combat Assault Weapons Ban now. Over 6,200 lives lost this year is the price we've paid for continued inaction. America deserves better. http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/10630392.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gov-martin-omalley/reinstate-the-combat-assa_b_10630392.html

[bluestateguy]

1. What if you already legally have one of these guns?

Are you grandfathered in? Or does the government come and take them away? Or are you charged with felonies for having them?

And then, of course, the black market value of such weapons goes up when they are banned. And there is a last minute rush to buy them legally in the time between the law's enactment and when it goes into effect.

[mwrguy]

3. Trade it in

for a gift certificate to Chik-Fil-A.

[bluestateguy]

4. A voluntary buy-back program would at least be practical

But expecting people to just hand them over to police or expecting police to go door to door collecting them is impractical, unrealistic and a little scary.

[Koinos]

2. As usual, O'Malley knows what he is talking about.

I'm sure we will hear lots more from him about this. He has never wavered in his resolve to reduce gun violence, and this will turn out to be a key issue in the general election. He will hit the Republicans hard.