A NRA Member Makes Some Humble Suggestions on Gun Control

Few things exist on which there is more BS spoken than gun control.

It’s highly unlikely, indeed almost impossible, that confiscating weapons like AR-15s or similar will do anything at all to combat killings, mass or otherwise, in the USA or anywhere else for that matter. People who are crazy enough to want to mass murder will, unfortunately, find a way.

You only have to look to Paris, where personal gun ownership is virtually illegal for private citizens and multiple dozens of people were murdered by jihadis at the Bataclan Theater and across the city, or Chicago, another supposedly gun-free zone, relatively anyway, where five were murdered and at least 29 wounded over the last weekend alone, for corroboration.

People who believe this kind of confiscation or control will solve everything, or even close, are living in a virtue-signaling/morally narcissistic dreamland. The “Mad Bomber” terrorized New York City in the 1940s and 1950s “with explosives that he planted in theaters, terminals, libraries, and offices.” He wasn’t caught for 16 years. There are plenty of ever-expanding ways to wreak havoc.

NEVERTHELESS, a disturbing number of people are being shot—particularly school children—and we ought to try to do something about it.

Yes, it’s true that the statistics on mass killings are fudged and exaggerated, but as a member of the NRA I have a few, tentative, suggestions:

1.  Every school, depending on size, should have a number of armed people—more than they even think necessary—on the premises, at least for now. These should be a mixture of police, private security services, administrators, and teachers, a few, if not all, in plainclothes dress. None of the latter two should be coerced into this service, even remotely. (They would do poorly.) They should be volunteers who also commit to training and, equally important, constant retraining. The same should be true of every public facility, such as department stores, large restaurants, and theatres. A significant number of these people should also be plainclothes. A few, unfortunately not all, mass killers will be deterred by this. But it’s worth it.
2. Background checks should be mandatory for ALL gun sales or exchanges outside the immediate family. Yes, I am aware of the slippery slope argument (do gun shows really have checks?) but I think it’s ultimately insufficient. There’s a similar argument for just about anything one does in life. We should be grown-ups and recognize that people often sell guns because they are in financial need. If that gun is sold in private to a madman or wannabe jihadist, many people’s lives are in danger. Is that what you really want? Do you want to be responsible for that? How would you feel if you sold a gun to someone you didn’t really know and he or she turned up on TV having shot a half-dozen people? Not good, I would assume. If there’s a law for background checks, it should hold for private sales as well. Otherwise, it’s not really a law. (We all want to think we have good judgment about people, but do we? I’ve made plenty of mistakes that way and I bet you have too.)
3. So-called “Red Flag Laws,” trying to catch the perpetrators when they are young. Here we are on treacherous ground. Who determines who is crazy? Not easy, is it? The totalitarian potential is high. We need to do some thinking about this, but America clearly has a mental illness problem and solving this, more than anything, would bring down the number of mass killings. The problem is extremely complex, exacerbated by the liberal takeover of the psychological helping professions.
4. Concealed carry. I’m all for it. It could save a lot of lives. But one caveat—the license to carry should always be contingent on required retesting (ironically like an annual smog inspection). I know this from personal experience. When I go back to a firing range after a long hiatus, I have forgotten many things I have to relearn. That is why, as of now, I have not applied for a concealed carry permit, although it is relatively simple in my state.

With all this, I am an adamant supporter of the Second Amendment and not, primarily, because of hunting or sporting reasons. My primary reason, in today’s America, should be obvious.

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