StevieP
NES Member
There've been crapload of other threads lamenting potential AWBs, and generally bitching about new Gun Control mandates. Where's the thread offering alternative solutions to the gun grabbers?
I think our general direction in the upcoming months ought to be something along the lines of "What can we do to set American Gun Law in stone, and leave it alone, in perpetuity, never to be argued again?"
Let's get it RIGHT, in an arrangement that works for everyone.
Limiting the guns themselves is stupid. No ban has ever done anything. It's inarguable. Any "assault weapons ban" should be vigorously argued as a direct infringement of 2A Rights. Period. End of sentence.
Soooo. What else *is* on the table?
What can we do that doesn't restrict in any way the access and availability to whatever firearms we could want or need, but that would show that responsible gun owners want be part of the solution and not continually be seen as purveyors of problems for other people?
In my opinion, about the only thing we can reasonably expect to ask (as in, it's REALLY not too much to ASK) is that, as a responsible gun owner, you *should*:
1) Take a firearms safety class and learn and obey our own responsible gun owners' self-imposed set of rules, i.e.:
All guns are always loaded.
Never point a gun at anything you are unwilling to destroy.
Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.
Know your target.
Keep your gun at the minimum level of readiness.
Many states that don’t require licenses really do have a lot of unsafe operators out there. This is something we can do to be “self-policing” and show the greater population that we’re not just a bunch of dumb rednecks with guns. (We’ll be trained rednecks with guns?)
2) If there are children in the home of any lawful gun owner -- as soon as they're of the right age, they should take the Eddie Eagle training (stop, don't touch, get away, call an adult, etc.). How many of your kids know what to do if they see a gun? Are you sure?
3) Observe safe storage laws, in particular if you have children and/or mental defectives among the list of people who might reasonably have access to your firearms. (e.g. a 20-year old kid who's just found out his momma is gonna put him away and that she loves the school more than she loves him and he's gonna show them all!!) But I digress. Net-net -- If Ms. Lanza's guns were in a safe with a combination lock, other than when they were under her direct control, she'd probably be alive today.
I actually do think, in the 21st Century, we really need to make some concessions to modernity -- that modern sporting rifles really ARE easy to use to kill a lot of people quickly. In good hands that's not a problem, because the operator has a moral compass and won’t do it. In the wrong hands, obviously, it is a problem for a lot of other people who may not necessarily agree with our views on guns. Keeping our guns out of the hands of undesirables shouldn’t be hard.
There should be two types of guns:
1) Those in your direct control, and
2) Those that are secure (definition up for discussion)
To be honest, I have had a somewhat lackadaisical habit of leaving my gun on the table, or nightstand, or even once on the back of the toilet, and walked away. Nobody got hurt. Nobody was in the house but me and my wife and adult sons. But I know in the past I've even left the house and left guns un-locked too. Nothing happened! They didn't get up and shoot anyone when I wasn't there. But I recognize this is potentially problematic if there was a break-in, and over the past months have tried to make a concerted effort to be better about it. Obviously anyone who broke into my house and stole my guns would be a thief, but I shouldn’t make his job easy.
4) Background checks for licensing. I don't know what to say about this. I live in MA. I got checked. It didn't kill me. It doesn't do a thing to prevent crime but it calms the sheeple to know that at least the licensed gun buyers are not criminals. They still have to worry about the unlicensed ones though.
What else ya got? How *can* we be part of the solution, while at the same time giving up nothing?
Anyone taking bets on what the NRA will say in their News Conference on Friday? In their announcement they hinted on offering to help solve the problem. I'm somehow thinking their gambit will be something along the lines of "Remove every gun law ever written" or something like that. “Nobody should need a license to exercise a Constitutional Right!”
That'd be cool. Aim high, I guess.
I think our general direction in the upcoming months ought to be something along the lines of "What can we do to set American Gun Law in stone, and leave it alone, in perpetuity, never to be argued again?"
Let's get it RIGHT, in an arrangement that works for everyone.
Limiting the guns themselves is stupid. No ban has ever done anything. It's inarguable. Any "assault weapons ban" should be vigorously argued as a direct infringement of 2A Rights. Period. End of sentence.
Soooo. What else *is* on the table?
What can we do that doesn't restrict in any way the access and availability to whatever firearms we could want or need, but that would show that responsible gun owners want be part of the solution and not continually be seen as purveyors of problems for other people?
In my opinion, about the only thing we can reasonably expect to ask (as in, it's REALLY not too much to ASK) is that, as a responsible gun owner, you *should*:
1) Take a firearms safety class and learn and obey our own responsible gun owners' self-imposed set of rules, i.e.:
All guns are always loaded.
Never point a gun at anything you are unwilling to destroy.
Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.
Know your target.
Keep your gun at the minimum level of readiness.
Many states that don’t require licenses really do have a lot of unsafe operators out there. This is something we can do to be “self-policing” and show the greater population that we’re not just a bunch of dumb rednecks with guns. (We’ll be trained rednecks with guns?)
2) If there are children in the home of any lawful gun owner -- as soon as they're of the right age, they should take the Eddie Eagle training (stop, don't touch, get away, call an adult, etc.). How many of your kids know what to do if they see a gun? Are you sure?
3) Observe safe storage laws, in particular if you have children and/or mental defectives among the list of people who might reasonably have access to your firearms. (e.g. a 20-year old kid who's just found out his momma is gonna put him away and that she loves the school more than she loves him and he's gonna show them all!!) But I digress. Net-net -- If Ms. Lanza's guns were in a safe with a combination lock, other than when they were under her direct control, she'd probably be alive today.
I actually do think, in the 21st Century, we really need to make some concessions to modernity -- that modern sporting rifles really ARE easy to use to kill a lot of people quickly. In good hands that's not a problem, because the operator has a moral compass and won’t do it. In the wrong hands, obviously, it is a problem for a lot of other people who may not necessarily agree with our views on guns. Keeping our guns out of the hands of undesirables shouldn’t be hard.
There should be two types of guns:
1) Those in your direct control, and
2) Those that are secure (definition up for discussion)
To be honest, I have had a somewhat lackadaisical habit of leaving my gun on the table, or nightstand, or even once on the back of the toilet, and walked away. Nobody got hurt. Nobody was in the house but me and my wife and adult sons. But I know in the past I've even left the house and left guns un-locked too. Nothing happened! They didn't get up and shoot anyone when I wasn't there. But I recognize this is potentially problematic if there was a break-in, and over the past months have tried to make a concerted effort to be better about it. Obviously anyone who broke into my house and stole my guns would be a thief, but I shouldn’t make his job easy.
4) Background checks for licensing. I don't know what to say about this. I live in MA. I got checked. It didn't kill me. It doesn't do a thing to prevent crime but it calms the sheeple to know that at least the licensed gun buyers are not criminals. They still have to worry about the unlicensed ones though.
What else ya got? How *can* we be part of the solution, while at the same time giving up nothing?
Anyone taking bets on what the NRA will say in their News Conference on Friday? In their announcement they hinted on offering to help solve the problem. I'm somehow thinking their gambit will be something along the lines of "Remove every gun law ever written" or something like that. “Nobody should need a license to exercise a Constitutional Right!”
That'd be cool. Aim high, I guess.
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