The overwhelming majority of Americans, including gun owners, are sick of gun violence. They support gun control of various kinds. After the massacre of 20 elementary school children and six educators at the Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut, people thought that Congress would act to ban assault weapons or to demand restrictions on guns. But nothing happened. After the massacre at the Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, people thought that Congress would act to stem the slaughter. But nothing happened.

Now a sort of public apathy has descended, even after the massacre of ten shoppers at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo, even after the slaughter of fourth-grade children and their teachers in Uvalde, Texas.

Nothing will happen, the public believes, because the Republican Party is owned by the National Rifle Association, which contributes about $70 million per election cycle to its allies.

Nothing will happen, they say, because there are 400 million+ guns already in circulation, and no amount of gun control will eliminate them.

But there is a solution. It is breathtakingly simple. It depends on the boldness of one person.

That one person actually could be any one of about fifty people with the resources to carry out the plan.

But for the sake of argument, let me arbitrarily choose just one of them: McKenzie Scott. (It might just as well be Michael Bloomberg or some other billionaire.)

Ms. Scott, you are a person who has shown by your frequent gifts to worthy organizations that you care about the future of our nation. You care about people. You care about justice and kindness and vulnerable people. You say you want to keep giving your money away until it is all gone.

Here is a worthy enterprise.

First, replace the NRA as the most important donor to the Republican Party. But only on the condition that those who take your money agree to strong and comprehensive gun control. Offer millions of dollars to every Republican member of Congress who agrees to vote to ban the purchase and criminalize the sale of military weapons to civilians. If the NRA controls fifty Republican senators with only $70 million, surely you could spend $500 million and buy most of their votes, which would save thousands of lives every year. A good deal for America at a bargain price for you. Even $1 billion a year might break the NRA stranglehold on the Republicans in Congress. You don’t need to win the votes of 50 Republican senators. Fifteen would be enough to break a filibuster.

Second, start a national buyback program for the most dangerous weapons: AR15s, Bushmasters, automatic and semi-automatic weapons and any other military-grade weapons. Be generous. Buy them for 10 times the purchase price. Buy other types of weapons, other than hunting rifles and single-shot pistols. Buy up as many of the 400 million guns in private possession as possible. Destroy them.

Third, use your vast resources to fund gun control lobbyists in every state that does not have gun control and make the same offer to pro-gun state legislators that you do to members of Congress. Buy their votes.

If this sounds cynical, who cares?

McKenzie Scott (or Michael Bloomberg) could spend a billion or two and dramatically reduce gun violence, simply by buying the votes of Republicans and buying back unusually lethal weapons. Their assets have a way of growing no matter how much they spend. When you have $40-65 billion, spending a billion or so to eliminate America’s gun culture is a bargain.

Any one of these billionaires could lift the curse of gun violence from our land, with the expenditure of one or two of their many billions.

This would be a great gift to America.

If this plan doesn’t work, then here is an alternative: organize nationally for a complete and total ban on the sale or possession of assault weapons, and any guns other than hunting rifles and single-shot handguns. Civilians should not be able to purchase military-grade weapons. We had a ban on the purchase or sale of assault weapons from 1994 to 2004. It included many exemptions. It did not buy back the weapons already purchased. We should do it again with far more ambitious goals.

My first choice: ban and criminalize the purchase, sale, or manufacture of assault weapons. Let the hunters keep their single-shot guns. No one should own a military grade weapon but the military. The Founders did not write the Second Amendment to protect killers but to protect a well-organized militia.

No more massacres in schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, shopping centers, music festivals or anywhere else.