Ray Kelly weighs in on gun control On Face The Nation: 'The Problem Is The Handgun' – VIDEO

NO ONE is talking about taking anyones already purchased guns. We ARE telling you that we think allowing you to sell one of your guns to a mentally deranged person or criminal at a gun show or down the street without a background check is really STUPID on our part. America just woke up and GOT it! Because of the GOP and the NRA, we have been letting 40% of guns sold fall into the hands of people who should be nowhere near a gun. As the Police Chief at today's hearings said - That's like not screening 40% of the folks that board an airliner and hoping that none of them are terrorists because you did screen 60% of them. Or its like putting guards along 60% of our border and not expecting that criminals will just cross through the other 40%. WE GET IT! WE WERE REALLY STUPID! Now we are going to fix it. That is what rational people do when they discover they made a mistake. Obviously many of the politicians in the GOP and the NRA leadership are either not rational people or they are bought and sold by the firearms industry. If 40% of your product was going to gangs and criminals, you might think buying the NRA was cheaper than losing your sales. Your drug example works the other way actually. Yes, we have drugs in our society but can you imagine what it would be like if we treated drugs like we are treating guns? Imagine if people could buy drugs LEGALLY at DRUG SHOWS or from their NEIGHBOR without a doctor's prescription showing that they were legally allowed to buy them. Treating all gun sales the way we treat drugs may not stop every criminal from getting one but it will sure crimp their style.

The problem is violence.

Law abiding citizens obey the law and the criminals do not (that's what makes them criminals). Example: drugs are illegal but they are everywhere among the criminal class. Guns could be totally outlawed like crack cocaine and the criminals would still have guns. Lets not disarm the good guys in a race toward some feel good but ineffective legislation.

NO!NO!NO! The problem is not enough handguns in law abiding people! Period! Nothing else.No amount of "regulation" will stop gun crimes. This only makes people "feel good" that whole we have to do something mantality.

jflanagan - The self-evident, inalienable right to LIFE will trump the second AMENDMENT (after-thought) right to bear arms every time! When your right to own a shiny new TOY like an assault rifle or a 100 round drum for your own amusement starts treading on the right to life of a 6 year old, guess who's right will win in the eyes of the American people and in the decrees of the courts. Your rights end where those of others begin! Jefferson's idea of watering the Tree of Liberty with blood every so often did not envision a world where insane survivalists would consider 6 year olds a threat and massacre them. Jefferson said TYRANT'S blood not that of the INNOCENTS. Time to step back into the sane world of the 99% of the country that doesn't think that the black helicopters are going to come for them - or have you done something you shouldn't have to give them cause to come for you?

"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms." Thomas Jefferson to James Madison It is not a hunting thing, it is a liberty thing. The FBI Director couldn't say it was not policy and legal to kill American citizens without Judicial trial and conviction. Our Senate gave the power, and President Obama has accepted, to lock up those believed to be plotting a terrorist act for 5, 10 and more years without a conviction. Not that the person committed an act but is believed will commit one in the future.

@EphraimKibbey, great post!

I agree that universal background checks and an up to date national database of criminals and those judged to be a danger to themselves or others are the most important common sense steps that we can take to diminish gun violence. These two steps attack the heart of the problem of guns reaching those who should not have them and includes ALL firearms not just the glitzy ones. The mechanics involved are already in place so all that is needed is money for data input (need a job using your typing skills?) and an expansion of the current FFL transaction law to include gun shows and private sales. At $20 to $30 a transfer, the firearms dealers are looking at a 40% increase in business and may need to hire more staff. Who says the government can't create jobs? An essential aspect of this new law must be its teeth. For the law to work, the ATF will need a permanent director, more agents and will need to prosecute those who flaunt the new rules vigorously. In the past, the GOP and the NRA have worked tirelessly to neuter the ATF allowing illegal guns to flow into our big cities and across the border into Mexico. This must STOP! Either you are for a nation of law and order or you are on the side of the criminals. They must CHOOSE!

I would agree with all of the measures that Commissioner Kelly supports to close the big loophole in background checks, prevent the sale of military stye assault weapons and large clip ammunition. This needs to be done on a national level so that 90% of the illegal weapons seized in NY were obtained from outside the state.