I think what WOULD work in the USA is expansion of background checks. The vast majority of Americans support sensible background checks to stop criminals and the insane from buying a gun. I think that they would accept universal background checks before any gun can be owned and transferred. The Democrats will support this on principle. The GOP can be corralled into supporting this as a way to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists and criminals, but only if there is trust that it will be done competently and fairly. To do that, the Democrats need to demonstrate that government can run things competently and fairly.

An anti-gun reader, Michael Gomez, also believes gun confiscation is a pipe dream:

I strongly support gun control measures along the lines of those adopted in Australia—and I would happily go even further by restricting ammo along the lines of Israel. But sadly, I despair at the feasibility of adopting such measures here. I used to believe—long before Newtown—that the only way to enact serious gun control in America would be for the country to experience a massacre so revolting that the country would be jolted to its senses. In a conversation at a party as early as 1997, I actually suggested, to a German acquaintance, that “...some nut would have to shoot up and elementary school and kill dozens of little children.”

Well, it happened. And nothing changed. There are several reasons for this.

One is the Second Amendment—at once the most regrettable and repealable component of our Bill of Rights and possibly the greatest legal and constitutional example of the law of unintended consequences known to man! The Second amendment was never intended to allow concealed handguns or assault weapons (neither of which existed when it was drafted). It was intended to serve as a proxy for a standing army at a time when the nation was weak (with no professional standing army) and a still fractured (and highly RURAL) society.

Yet it does guarantee “the right to bear arms.” And short of repealing it as a historical anomaly that has outlived its intended purpose (which would be ideal), we are stuck with it in perpetuity and have to work around it, like some giant jagged mountain peak that can’t be avoided on a journey.

Another reason is our gun culture, which is so deeply ingrained in parts of American society. While some Americans (like myself) take enormous pride in never having touched a deadly firearm, others buy them as Christmas presents and take huge family photos brandishing guns! This will not end anytime soon. What’s worse, the divisions are only aggravated by our declining wages and the gradual snuffing out of “The American Dream.” Demographic changes (resulting in the loss of white dominance) and security fears over terrorism (though grossly overblown) further exacerbate the problem.

In anxious times, a certain class of individuals will always take take comfort in owning firearms. Guns can feel so empowering! And yet, statistically speaking, the chance that anyone will successfully deploy a firearm in defending oneself against an assault is virtually non-existent! You are much more likely to die as the result of an accident or a suicide from YOUR OWN firearm. Still, no one imagines himself as a statistic. People take great comfort in owning a gun. It confers an illusion of power and control.

Finally, there is the NRA and the gun lobby, whose views are far more extreme than those of their rank and file members. While hiding behind the mantra of civil liberty, their only real interest is dollars. Billions of dollars. That’s how much they make each year trading in deadly weapons. Little wonder their proposed solution to gun violence is—wait for it—to have yet MORE Americans carry firearms! This perverse logic, if applied to modern dermatology, would seek to treat deadly melanoma by building yet more tanning salons.

So I applaud Obama’s efforts. But I don’t carry much hope. I would like America to be more like Australia (or even better, like Denmark or Norway). But we are a long way from being like those countries. Structural, cultural, legal, and economic barriers almost certainly mean that we won't get there anytime soon—if ever.