kalashnikov
How can we minimize the number of shootings WITHOUT passing laws that restrict legitimate gun ownership and self/civil defense.
Excellent thought. I believe that rights come with responsibilities. And it’s important to emphasize the responsibilities alongside the rights. To their credit, I have met many gun owners who do exactly that.
Gun safety classes should be mandatory in school. Some parents would object, but their childred need the education the most of all, since they certainly won’t get it at home, and they are most likely to see guns as “the forbidden fruit”. The classes need not involve shooting, but should include handling a gun with dummy rounds, and witnessing a gunshot’s effects on reactive targets.
I’ve no particular problem with gun ed (in analogy to sex ed) but I’d like it if, like sex ed was at my school, parents can opt their kids out of it if they deliver a written request. You know, a little opt-out slip with their name, their kids name, and their signature.
I agree that those kids whose parents don’t want them to take the classes are the ones who most need it. But the same is true of sex ed, and we still let people opt their kids out of that.
Really, I don’t think the government has the right to dictate what my (or your) kids learn. I have no grudge against public schools, being the product of them myself. But I do believe that a parent should be allowed to opt their kid out of any or everything being taught. Most, of course, won’t bother. And that’s exactly as it should be. But if a few have different beliefs, well, more power to them. Let them live their lives the way they want. They’re only hurting themselves, and I believe everyone has the right to hurt themselves and only themselves if they are stupid enough to deliverately choose that. I don’t like it, but I think that’s their right never the less.
The other thing, of course, is that kids are very interested in learning about guns. How many “opt-out” slips would be given to kids and the kids would “accidentally” lose them, and “forget” to tell mom and dad until they were already signed up for the class? ;]
More free public ranges would encourage people to train more with their defense guns, also reducing stray shots.
Man, I’d settle for ANY public shooting range. The nearest one to me is about 40 miles off. Makes is hard to go shooting unless you plan your whole day around it. Fortunatly for me I don’t carry, and don’t hunt, so my lack of practice just means I’m an embarassingly poor shot. People who carry… their lives could depend on their marksmanship.
Some other ideas are gun safety commercials, newspaper ads, billboards etc. Perhaps gun shops should make anyone buying THEIR FIRST gun watch a video, and give them a copy to take home.
I’d go further. Mandatory gun safety classes. I took the NRA gun safety class before I bought my target pistol, and I can’t praise it enough. Mine took two evenings and a Saturday. It included firing my first few shots in an indoor range, under the careful and watchful eye of a very experienced instructor. You couldn’t ask for better, safer conditions.
A gun is a very powerful tool, and it’s non-trivial to operate one safely. People think because they see Arnie use a gun in the movies, they can do it too. Funny, they don’t seem to think that just because Arnie can jump a harley off a 12’ ledge into a concrete drainage canal, and land just fine, they can also do THAT.
It would also help to promote the use of gun safes, especially those quick access handgun safes. Perhaps the purchase price could be tax deductable.
Oh hell yes. Safe storage is something that I think the vast majority of gun owners neglect, and badly. It’s easy to forget about it, but it’s so crucial. It keeps your guns out of the hands of your kids, if you have any, (how many kids in those school shootings stole their guns from parents and relatives collections?) and also out of the hands of that bastard who broke into your house while you were away on vacation.
sewalk
*Education in schools would be great and the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program is a perfect example of how effective this program can be. Unfortunately, many in our public school system are, ahem, on the left side of the aisle, and won’t even think of allowing the NRA to come into our schools and “teach our kids how to handle and shoot guns”. This is not the aim of the Eddie Eagle program (Stop, Go, Tell, is the mantra Eddie teaches and the only thing children have to know), but most gun control advocates refuse to accept even this much education about firearms safety. *
Sigh. I really think my fellow liberals are quite foolish in their hysteria in not allowing, well, SOMETHING like Eddie Eagle into elementary schools. I mean geez - “Stop! Don’t touch it! Go tell an adult.” - Is that a BAD thing to be teaching our kids about guns? Christ.
I think the resistance is mostly shock driven. Seeing “NRA” on something is enough to drive some people into paranoia. Schools could so easily adapt something of their own invention, like Eddie Eagle but not quite, into their curriculums; they don’t even have to take the NRAs materials. But NNNOOOOO…
How do you document a “first” gun purchase? I think that all retail gun sales should be accompanied with a copy of a manual (pamphlet?) teaching basic firearms safety and the buyer must read the manual and sign a waiver to complete the purchase.
I don’t know how well this would fly, but maybe you have to watch a training video, then take a brief (ten question) written test. The video (and test) would cover the three basic rules of gun safety, plus any other highly important gun safety information. If you fail the test, you get to watch the video again until you figure it out. ;] I admit this wouldn’t stop someone from memorizing the info and then forgetting it ten seconds later, but it’d be a start IMO.
Though I’ll be the first to say that there are some pretty serious constitutional, and practical, problems with making a right dependent on passing a test. Jim Crow laws, anyone? 
Tedster
There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground on this issue. Either we get rid of personally owned weapons, or we don’t.
Although I’m a supporter of second amendment rights (though probably more left-wing than many), I do think there’s middle ground to be found here. I’m really sick of the kind of absolutist rhetoric that’s often been spewed by both sides of the gun debate. It seems like we don’t even try and find acceptable compromises on this issue, and that annoys me. I don’t think either pro or anti gun people are inherently unreasonable. I just think nobody even tries any more. I do believe that there are reasonable things we can do (hell, look at this thread) if we just put our minds to it.
If we aren’t, we might as well stop screwing around and make it mandatory for every law abiding citizen to own at least one handgun and a rifle or shotgun. The general trend would appear to be less guns in the hands of honest, law abiding citizens, and the rest in either the crooks hands or government agencies.
I’m afraid I don’t agree here either. I believe that something that you can choose to exercise or not, that’s a right. Something that you are forced to exercise is not a right, it’s a duty. And just as I believe that the right to freedom of religion gives me the right to have NO religion if I choose, and the right to free speech gives me the right to NOT speak if I choose (enhanced further by the 5th amendment, even!), so does the right to bear arms guarantee me that nobody can ever force me to own or keep a gun if I don’t want to. I don’t like the idea of the government having that kind of power over me. I want it to remain a CHOICE, now and forever. Freedom is what I want, not government mandated guns for all.
beatle, breaknrun and JoeCool
I am all for punishing criminals who use guns very harshly. If we really want to get guns off the streets, we should make the penalties for firearms in crimes extremely high. If your average thug knows it’s ten years, mandatory, waiting for him if he uses a gun, or maybe two, with parole for using a knife… which do you think he’s more likely to choose? Criminals are dumb, but they’re not entirely stupid.
Throw in legally armed citizens who carry concealed guns for self-defense, and criminals are going to stop mugging people and start doing less directly harmful stuff like property crime pretty quick.
It’s unfortunate this comes down to lesser evils, but if it’s me being shot in an alley vs. having my car broken into and the stereo taken, I know which one I’m choosing…
But JoeCool, about the public floggings - betcha it’d never fly. “Cruel and unsusual punishment.” A little barbaric for my tastes, too…
-Ben
{fixed italics. --Gaudere}
[Edited by Gaudere on 08-08-2001 at 05:30 PM]