A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Before anyone freaks out about the thought of gun control, let me point something out. Gun control does not mean a gun ban. Very few people want to take away all guns. Control means to direct or assert influence over something. I want to control my car while I am driving. Most of our employers control how we spend our work day. Parents try to assert control over their children's behavior. Control is not a bad thing.
When people talk about the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, they only mention the right to bear arms. The first few words of the Second Amendment are "A well regulated". To the strict constitutionalist, this should make it obvious that the founding fathers wanted the government to regulate Arms; for the purpose of this discussion, guns. I won't go into the fact that military action was enacted with citizen soldiers who were called up for the period of the action then went back to civilian life; the Second Amendment was designed to assure that the new government had means to defend itself since there was not much of a standing army.
Stan Lee, in the voice of Peter Parker, famously said, "With great power, comes great responsibility." I also believe that with a given right comes with a given responsibility. The Constitution gives us the right of free speech, it is our responsibility to use it wisely by not shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. The Constitution gives us the right to vote, it is our responsibility to weigh the candidates and the issues and make as good a decision that our knowledge and conscious allow us to make. The Constitution gives us the right to bear arms, it is our responsibility to do so safely and wisely.
That being said, here are my gun control proposals.
1. Everyone who owns or purchases a firearm of any kind, must take a gun safety class. This class can be taught by the NRA, a local police office, the ROTC, a gun club with a licensed instructor, or any other certified instructor. Even though my father knew more than enough about guns to teach anything I needed to know, he still sent me to a NRA course when I was about 12, because that course was focused on safety.
2. Background checks need to be stricter. They need to include checks for mental health issues, felony convictions, violent misdemeanor convictions, domestic abuse, fugitive status, and restraining orders. Tighter background checks have been statistically linked to fewer suicides by gun and by fewer gun homicides. UAB study on background checks
3. All firearm sales must go through background checks. All sales. Sales from a sporting goods store, a gun dealer, the manufacturer, a gun show or a private sale. Exempting some sales from background checks is like walking through the rain with a holey umbrella.
4. All firearms must be registered. This is not the government trying to make a list of all gun owners so they can round them up. Cars have to be registered, boats have to be registered, marriages have to be registered, and in a number of areas dogs have to be registered. When you buy a gun, you fill out a registration form and the seller turns it in after the background check. When you sell the gun, the same thing happens in reverse. It's no more complicated than buying or selling a car, probably less because you don't have to worry about insurance or financing.
5. If you lose your firearm or it is stolen once in a calendar year, your name is flagged. If you lose a firearm
for a second time in a calendar year or three times in your life, you are marked as a irresponsible gun owner and your privilege to own a firearm is revoked. I've owned firearms for at least 25 years and have never lost one or had one stolen. If you can't take care of a firearm, you don't reserve the right.
I'm not advocating taking away all firearms. I'm not even advocating an assault weapon ban even though I can't see a reason to own one other than the fact they are fun to shoot. A rifle on full auto is not that accurate anyway, I'd be more scared of someone good with a pistol than an idiot with an AK-47. It is not the well trained responsible people that scare me.
Gun control will not eliminate gun violence, but it may help bring the levels down. There will still be people who will do unthinkable things like what happened in Newtown on December 14th 2012 and Orlando this year, but maybe we can keep the guns out of some of their hands. Just because we can't guarantee that those who shouldn't have a gun don't get one doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
