Bitch and moan all you want, the National Rifle Association
is doing exactly the job it is supposed to do. Whine, complain, scream and
shout if you want, but the NRA has prospered because it was allowed to prosper.
I am not a member of the National Rifle Association.
I grew up around guns. My family and friends had guns. I’ve
owned guns. I hunted birds and small game and enjoyed target shooting as well.
Dad used to take me to the local dump in Vermont and we plinked cans with a .22
rifle. I had marksman classes at camp. (And, yes, I was a damn good shot.)
I have no interest in taking your guns, and I think that
while the 2nd Amendment is misinterpreted and wrongly flaunted in nearly every
debate or discussion about guns, that really isn’t the issue right now. At
least read the darn thing and put it in its proper historical place before you
start screaming that people are violating your “right” to own a gun.
Maybe that’s one of the issues, though. When did owning a gun
become a right while other things, like driving, owning a credit card,
attending local colleges, or even buying a house remain a “privilege” in
today’s world? Sure you can get into a bar if you’re over 21, but you’ll need
ID. That may mean getting a driving license . . . a written test, photo, and
driving test. You pass you get your license. That a lot tougher than buying a
gun in many places.
Each state has its own gun laws, and some cities and towns
have laws on top of the state laws. Currently, 10 states have mandatory waiting
periods before a buyer can take possession of a handgun . . . with some states
allowing the gun to be picked up after a period of time even if a background
check hasn’t cleared. Others mandate that a buyer has to wait a certain amount
of time (usually 2-3 days) even if the background check comes back clean before
that.
Final note to the media: Can you please learn a bit about
guns . . . “automatic” vs. “semi-automatic” to start, “military assault
weapons” (they aren’t . . . they are semi-automatic military “style” weapons .
. . and so on). You sound stupid when you make basic factual errors.
A couple of simple (though nothing is “simple” when politics
is involved) ideas:
First, let’s not allow people on the terrorist watch list to
buy guns. Yes, some politicians argue against this idea because there may be
people on the list who shouldn’t be. Fine, establish an appeals process.
Otherwise, too bad.
Second, submit every gun sale in the country to a background
check. Every one. So there’s no loophole for sales at gun shows or online or
any states.
Third, we must have a deep and wide database for background
checks, including mental health input (professionals should be able to “flag”
potential problem individuals easily), and a system that links local, state and
federal systems.
Fourth, broaden the application of the “Domestic Violence
Offender Gun Ban” (which bans those convicted of a physical domestic violence
charge) to include a ban on those convicted of stalking, harassment and
threatening. If owning a gun is a "privilege," then you lose that
privilege if you're convicted of threatening someone. Period.
Fifth, mandate gun safety certification for every gun buyer.
The certificate would be good for 5 years, then the owner would have to go
through another safety class. (I also feel hand-on gun safety classes are more
important that classroom teachings, and would urge that, but I'm not sure how
it could be established and managed.)
Six, we need to keep
weapons safe when not in use. Mandate trigger locks or gun safes to prevent
easy access, especially by children, as well as gun theft. According to the
FBI, nearly 3,000 deaths (or about 10 percent of yearly gun deaths) are caused
by all forms of accidental shootings yearly. The highest numbers of deaths by
guns are suicides (64 percent), with murders of all types about 25 percent. (Other
categories fill in the remaining percentages.) (FBI/CDC/Time Magazine)
Six ideas that don’t really restrict access to guns, but does
make them a bit more work to buy. There are dozens of others, like restricting
certain types of weapons and the capacity of ammunition magazines. The
effectiveness of many of those is questionable, though I think every avenue
should be explored.
On the subject, note that few gun murders are committed with
rifles of any type, including assault rifles. Statistics indicate of the some
9,000 yearly murders, just over 300 are are committed with rifles (2012). Six
times more murders are committed with knives, and more than twice as many were
caused by physical beatings, and more people were killed with shotguns than
rifles. Some 4 percent of those killed by rifles are killed with “assault
rifles,” an incredibly small number in terms of total murders. The recent
shooting in California highlighted the weapons, but we need to know the issue
beyond the headlines and political speeches. (FBI/CDC)
By far, most gun murders are committed with handguns.
Gun advocates argue that with more guns, more bad guys would
be stopped before they committed really bad shootings. The evidence, though,
doesn’t bear that out, no matter how viscerally good it might sound. More guns
means more shootings and therefore accidents, deaths and injuries.
In 2012, for example, there were 259 gun-related justifiable
homicides. There were about 67,000 incidents reported where guns may have
stopped a crime of one sort or another, including burglaries. (The NRA claims
2.5 million crimes are stopped, but the FBI and law enforcement numbers don’t
show that.) As a side note, more than 240,000 guns are stolen every year, with
about 180,000 taken in burglaries. (FBI)
Let's not forget that 85,000 people are injured by guns every
year, and more than 500 are killed in accidental discharge accidents. (Wiki/FBI)
The problem is that guns are dangerous, so when they
discharge, very bad things can happen.
Many gun owners say owning a gun makes them feel safer. That
may well be true, of course, but the evidence shows that they are unlikely to
be a good guy stopping a bad guy and much more likely to be the victim of a
gun-related accident themselves.
Let’s be clear . . . Many of these mass shootings (where 4 or
more people are shot) are different from one another, as are the ways guns used
were acquired. We can’t stop them all because we can’t stop every crazy person
in the U.S. from doing something crazy, or some not-so-crazy person deciding he
or she wants to shoot a bunch of people. Often all these shooters are
completely unknown to any law enforcement agencies.
Nothing fits in a
nice neat box, though both gun advocates and anti-gun advocates would have us
believe otherwise. What we can do is restrict a few sales, tighten a few
loopholes and make sure the laws we have and new ones we create are well
crafted and enforced.
That would be
something, instead of nothing.
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