Most people would probably agree to some formation of the following:
Someone ought to be able to own a firearm to protect their home and family. And all of these horrible shootings that keep happening are awful, and we should try to prevent them from happening. We can’t stop them all, but we can at least try to make it more difficult for them to happen.
And if you do agree with that, here’s my proposal:
Background-checks. Yes, even for private sales. In an era of $100 smart-phones, there’s a way to do it. When you sell a car, someone has to fill in or file a registration. It’s not unreasonable.
One-way database. In the same way you can have a ‘hash function’ which can map from source data to a hash value (But *not* backwards!), you should be able to map from serial numbers to people. But not the other way around. If you really need to see if someone has a firearm, you can get a warrant to search their house. But if a gun is used in a crime, and the serial number can be read off it, we need to be able to figure out who that gun belongs to. I would want to appoint some kind of privacy advocate to protect this data as well. The idea of the cops running around after Hurricane Katrina happened, confiscating legal firearms of civilians is something that should be prevented from even happening, and made even more terribly illegal than it was already.
Providing a firearm to someone who then commits a crime means you are an accessory. And should be criminally charged. Improper storage or securing of ones firearm(s) which are then used in crime mean you are negligent, or possibly an accessory.
And yes, that means if you ‘lose’ or have your firearm stolen, you need to report it. And that means if you didn’t secure it you can be charged. And that means you need to check in on your firearm every, say, 6 months or so – no saying “Oh, I forgot I had it! Haven’t looked at where I keep it in a while…”
That also means when you’re doing tearful press conferences about how no one knew that your kid could go shoot up a school, it’s likely you’ll be wearing prison-orange. Because you probably weren’t properly storing your firearms. Because if you were, maybe your kid would’ve had a harder time shooting up that school?
As for the definitions of what these things are? (How would a ‘household firearm’ work? What does ‘properly stored’ entail? Etc.) I don’t know and I think that’s probably an important place for us to get to. But let’s start a conversation here.
What about firearm types? I don’t care about that. AR-15 or AK-47 or simple 9mm Glock. Honestly, that’s the wrong road to go down. The right road to go down is stopping people who shouldn’t be able to buy guns managing from buying or acquiring them somehow. And making gun-owners responsible for secure and safe storage of their firearms. That, honestly, is not unreasonable.