Gun Laws vs Gun Rights

Even as I prepare to compose this entry I can hear weapons being cocked and ready to fire all over the nation.  So, not just as a  matter of self defense but as a means of clarification let me immediately state that I have no desire to promote the destruction of our second amendment rights.  I support the right for all people who are sane and capable to have a gun if they so wish.

However, you will notice that I qualified that statement.  Sane and capable. Yup...if you are crazy, unstable or blind I would rather you take up a different hobby.  But therein lies the rub as Hamlet was wont to say!  The NRA is scared to death of giving the government too much authority over who gets to bear arms and who doesn't. The troubling reality behind that fear, or at least the way it is sold to the public, is that our founding fathers recognized that the only way to keep tyrants from usurping our rights as citizens is if the government (the potential tyrants in this story) recognizes that the people they govern have the means to take the power away from them.  Aha.  The fact that it has been so darn easy for those supporting that argument to sell it means that there are a lot of people out there who don't trust the government one tiny bit and really want to keep their options open when and if a scenario including armed revolution comes into play!

The oft repeated argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people" is certainly true.  But that fact does not invalidate other undeniable facts. Guns were invented to kill people. They were not invented for hunting, they were not invented for collecting or for target practice even though those are all valid uses for guns. Their purpose is to kill. When you have a society that also promotes violence in movies, in video games, in lifestyles, you have created a dangerous combination by also promoting the propagation and veneration of guns. I don't want to abrogate my right or your right to own a gun but I do want SOMEBODY trying to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of crazy people. We let the government determine who can drive a car, who can drink a beer, who can smoke a cigarette, who can...fill in the blank.  But who can have access to a killing machine whose raison d'etre IS TO KILL is off limits. So, for all of those gun toting, potential revolutionaries out there who distrust our government I have a proposal.

Give the responsibility of vetting who gets to become a pistol packing person to...wait for it...the NRA!  We would pass legislation that would make it the responsibility of the National Rifle Association to be the sole grantors of permits to own guns of any type.  If Wahoo Crazy Bob grabs his trusty Bushmaster with a 30 round clip and shoots up a grocery store or a school or a movie house or WHATEVER the NRA will be the responsible party. THEY can get sued for endangerment of the public and for failure to comply with their responsibility.

All of a sudden we might have the NRA promoting seminars on mental health, proposals to provide each and every school in the nation with a trained mental health adviser, suggestions for social programs to educate young adults on the skills of parenting, inaugurating pleas for less violence in movies, video games, and lyrics...the possibilities boggle the mind!

There is one other little thing though.  We'd probably also have to pass legislation that would make their records of who has been granted a permit as sacrosanct as our medical lab results are.