Ban them; they’re not hunting rifles
When I was growing up and working in small, rural villages, guns were a part of everyday life; hunting rifles, mostly. The hunting seasons were part of the culture, and wildlife; the land and skill were respected.
The gun violence we feared came from “weekend hunters” who drove down from affluent suburbs to drink beer and shoot at cows and sometimes each other. Shooting deaths occurred when boozy weekenders took aim at something, anything, rustling the brush, even when it was bright orange.
Today it’s vastly different. Alongside COVID and opioids is an epidemic of gun violence directly related to the super-abundance of AR-15-type firearms and enormous magazines, whose only purpose, outside of mass shootings, is creating huge profits for gun manufacturers who spend millions to convince us we need their products.
If we want ourselves, our neighbors and our children to be able to go to school or the grocery store in relative safety, there are clear first steps. Restrict magazine size. Ban AR-15-style weapons.