If I Were President: Gun Control
Gun control means using both hands! ;-)
People always seem to like to attack the surface of problems, and rarely the actuall root cause. As many places are finding now, gun control does absolutely nothing to reduce crime, and in fact, find it's getting worse. Washington DC has the strictest controls in the country, and it's got the highest murder rate in the country.
They also like to say "you don't need those kind of guns for hunting." Well, I've got news for people: the right to keep and bear arms was not put into the Constitution to allow hunting!
When citizens fear their government you have tyranny. When government fears its citizens you have freedom. ~Thomas Jefferson
The founding fathers understood that the first thing you do to oppress a populace is take away any means they have to fight back.
With that said, regarding the issues in the quiz at hand:
- Safety Devices on All New Guns Somewhat Support
While I'm sure this is intended to be just one more control to add to the list by those pushing to ban guns entirely, in fact, it's not unreasonable to make sure that guns are only handled by responsible, authorized, parties. While there are kids who are competent to handle guns safely, most are not, and it's irresponsible of parents to not keep them safe. On the other hand, that's what should be legislated, not the specific design of how to do it.
- Background Checks on Gun Show Purchases Somewhat Support
This is another reasonable request, if done properly. It's completely reasonable to make sure that someone purchasing a weapon is responsible. It's NOT reasonable to license the weapon itself and put it in a database, though it wouldn't be a bad idea for gun manufacturers to take a ballistics sample of every gun so when a gun is stolen (as most guns used in crimes are), then information about it can be used to help find it.
- Require Safety Course, License Before Gun Purchase Somewhat Support
Yet another reasonable requirement --- licensing owners, just as we license drivers to make a reasonable effort to ensure competence and responsibility (yes, I know you can say but we license cars too, but I'm not convinced that's a good idea either, for the same reason --- one more way to track a person and invade their privacy). I would even take this one step further and treat it as an operator's license: anyone carrying or shooting a gun would have to be licensed to do so, but it would not then matter *what* they were shooting. I would have two licenses however --- one for open carry and one for concealed. The latter would have stronger requirements, including classes with practice in self defense situations to avoid 1. making mistakes in judgement and 2. having the weapon captured and turned against the owner.
All that said, I don't think it's a necessary requirement, just a good idea.
- Allow Lawsuits Against Gun Manufacturers Strongly Oppose
This is just ludicrous. People don't seem to care who's at fault, they just want to get whoever they can. Suing Smith & Wesson because someone shot someone else with a revolver is like suing Mercedes because that woman ran over her husband in Texas. Give me a break!
Posted by abatie at February 12, 2004 07:04 PM