It's true that such restrictions would reduce the availability of guns for above-board purchasers, people who did nothing wrong. But should that really be a higher priority than the interdiction of weapons to criminals? Gun-rights groups warn that such restrictions, no matter how many lives they may save, could lead us down a slippery slope toward a disarmed American society. But the strength of the NRA and the unwillingness of Congress to provoke their wrath make it extremely unlikely that, as these groups warn, all assault weapons could be criminalized and seized.

When it comes to guns, there's more at stake than just gun rights. Redesigning our regulations of assault weapons could allow the U.S. an opportunity to rethink a range of issues and create some coherence. Why is it, for example, that multiple handguns sales are reported to the ATF, while multiple long gun sales are not? In testimony before the Oversight Committee, Special Agent Peter Forcelli, the senior ATF group supervisor in the Phoenix Field Division, drew the parallel to purchases of Sudafed, which are monitored because Sudafed is used to make methamphetamine. "Not everybody who buys more than one gun is a criminal," said Forcelli, "but it would give us an indicator that, hey, why is this person buying seven AKs? Maybe that's somebody we want to speak to."

A broader conversation about arms control in America could actually benefit American firearms enthusiasts. For example, currently, at least ten key parts of imported rifles must be American-made in order to escape the "sporting purposes" test, an odd law initially enacted to keep cheap Chinese-made AK-47s out of circulation. Instead, importers bring stripped-down weapons into the country, add American-made parts, and make other minor modifications. For this, American gun owners pay a premium and must then be careful not to swap those parts out for foreign-made parts. By aligning firearms import laws with domestic gun laws, there would be fewer hoops to jump through.

There is a real human cost to the government's choice to allow purchases of unlimited assault weapons. While the individual right to own firearms has been settled by the Supreme Court, there is little guidance on the type of weapons the government must allow the individual to keep or how often the individual may purchase them. Given the high death tolls and the lives shattered, the desires of a few legitimate enthusiasts to acquire arsenals of AR-15s and of firearms manufacturers and dealers to protect their business interests do not outweigh the fact that a number of purchasers of these weapons are criminals and terrorists. There's little that the U.S. can easily do about the guns already in circulation; stemming the future tide is far more practical. Unfortunately, the political will is lacking, and while Fast and Furious provides an excellent backdrop against to act, the start of campaign season suggests this will be a crisis wasted.