Posted on 11/23/2014 7:19:19 AM PST by Second Amendment First
How many shootings will it take before we adopt common sense gun control? A former Navy weapons instructor lays out the simple steps lawmakers can take to make us all safer.
Last week, there was yet another campus shooting. This time, it was at Florida State University. The exhaustingly predictable cycle of mass shooting, recycled talking points from all sides, proposed legislation, insider lobbying, stagnation, and loss of public interest is about to begin and has been repeated far too many times in recent memory. Face it: the gun rights debate in this country is stale. In May, I talked about how both sides are wrong and said that we need to have some common sense. Today, I am calling on lawmakers to have some damn courage.
If you feel, like the fringe gun lobby does, that my 6 year-old son's life is less important than your right to own whatever firearm and ammunition you want, then say that. Don't hide behind meaningless rhetoric or claim you're ready for action only to back off when the NRA comes knocking. That being said, if you believe—along with a clear majority of Americans of both parties—that modest regulation of weapons designed for the sole purpose of killing humans seems reasonable, that's a pretty easy public position to take.
And before you jump to assumptions, know that I'm no hippie. As a former weapons instructor in the U.S. Navy, I own guns myself—and I want to keep them. However, I believe that our society is overflowing with lethal weapons and that we must take action to prevent more dead kids. Mass shootings are on the rise. Children are dying. When will it be enough to actually do something? Who has the courage to do the right thing—money from special interest groups be damned?
If you feel, like the fringe gun lobby does, that my 6 year-old son's life is less important than your right to own whatever firearm and ammunition you want, then say that. I'll make it easy for lawmakers. Here is the first common sense step for what we need to do, at the state level, to maintain our constitutional right to bear arms while arming ourselves with the tools to be safer in public.
Licensing, to be renewed every five years with full background checks and mental health screenings, is the first step. Adding a checkbox to a driver's license and another form would make this easy to implement. My driver's license tells folks that I am a donor; it could very easily also indicate whether or not I am a gun owner or authorized to carry concealed firearms.
Before you tell me how I am violating your rights by proposing a record of gun owners, note that the constitution does not say that you have the right to bear arms and not tell anyone. We regulate chemicals, elevators, airplanes, and financial transactions—and none of those are specifically designed to kill anyone.
The next step is requiring 40 hours of training prior to license approval. I’m here to tell you that there is little value to having a firearm if one is cannot employ it tactically. I’m not saying we need owners to be trained to the level of Navy SEALs or SWAT teams, but if you claim to want these weapons to protect your home, then you should at least have a baseline knowledge. The training hours should jump to 80 hours for a concealed carry permit. This training should be done by the government to ensure consistency and quality control and should be covered by the tax on ammunition.
And finally, to pay for the licensing process and training as well as the background and mental health screenings, we can add a modest tax to ammunition sales (think five to ten cents per round—a manageable amount). This way, the costs are spread amongst those who wish to own guns.
My hometown city charter calls out public safety as the number one priority; many politicians around the country say the same thing, and I'd like to see them put their money where their mouths are. The question is pretty simple: do your lawmakers have the courage to protect you?
Call your state senators, your assembly members, your mayors, and your city councils. Tell them that you want to protect your kids. You want to protect your communities. Hell, you want to protect yourself. Tell them that, with the stroke of a pen, they can improve safety for their constituents and side with the clear majority of Americans.
And if they try to run you around or brush you off, remember to ask them if they think the right to own as many firearms as one wants without anyone else knowing about it is more important than the lives of America's children—including yours and theirs.
To a gov’t or ex gov’t employee (Navy firearms...etc) more government is the answer to everything.
Actually, government is the answer to just about nothing.
Good catch. The fail safe way to detect a mindless liberal: liberals rely on feelings, while conservatives rely on thought.
When you start talking about what other people should be allowed to do or own, you’ve made the case for the Second Amendment.
Wow! Excellent background on this guy! Thanks.
I knew it instinctively but was too lazy too look it up!
Probably works for Brady’s crew too!
Wow! Excellent background on this guy! Thanks.
I knew it instinctively but was too lazy too look it up!
Probably works for Brady’s crew too!
Being a veteran does not give one a greater position of morality or expertise to expound on constitutional issues.
Being a current or former weapons instructor doesn’t make one an expert on issues related to gun control.
This is no aspersion on honorable service. But the past history indicated does not establish the foundation the writer thinks it does in terms of proposing to teach others about what the constitution does or does not say, and in terms of what is or is not good public policy.
The self aggrandizement the writer makes based on their service is, to me, unsettling.
Every soldier who has stood guard duty is not an expert on anti terrorism. Every public affairs officer is not an expert on free speech. Every chaplain is not an expert on freedom of religion.
This would be akin to someone who worked for a few years as an Apple Genius proposing that they are qualified to not only advise the CEO, but that they are qualified by such experience to advise the FCC or the Patent Board.
This is an old leftist fallacy of appealing to false authority: “you must be X in order to have any credibility to speak on Z”
I have seen people on the right fall into the trap AKA “he’s a vet so he must be a patriot” or “He handled guns so he mush know what he’s talking about”.
Tis better to judge a man on his deeds rather than rely only upon his words.
I am doubtful of the claim that “mass shootings are on the rise.” I also dismiss quite readily the idea that because object X can be deadly to children that the only way to keep children safe is by a wide restrictions on object X.
Using that logic I would have to conclude that objects that cause even more deaths than guns must face more severe restrictions, even being banned. So should we ban automobiles and swimming pools and open flame.
My other objection is that to truly keep children safe from guns (which I suppose would mean no gun fatalities or injuries at all) we would have to factor in the big unknown of human behavior. That means we must assume that those who are considered “safe” gun owners could at anytime experience a crisis or a mental health break which would make them “unsafe” gun owners. So there can be no true removal of a threat to children unless you severely restrict the use of firearms and ban them if children are likely to be present.
All of this means when I read an argument that claims “It’s for the children” I immediately suspect the true argument is “Your constitutional rights must take a back seat to my fearmongering.”
This guy is a moron, their is a movement in the NDA to classify gun ownership as a health risk and a mental disorder.
“40 hours training”
I am quite sure the gangs would get right on this idea.
True enough for the most part. But when the action is advocacy, and it is here, his words are enough to condemn him to the "enemy of me" pile. The fact that he served does not override his intentions to nanny me.
I could make the same argument for lawn mowers, bicycles, or baseball bats.
I guess I was lucky. I signed up for the Honor Guard at Keesler in 1974. I had to requalify to carry a pistol and an M-16 for the guard so they cut a temporary TDY over to Gulfport where the Marines taught the SeeBees weapons handling and marksmanship. After four days personal instruction with a Senior Chief Marine, I was comfortable with the M-16 and M1911 .45 Pistol. It was some of the best weapons instructions I have ever had.
This loser (Shawn VanDiver) is a serious leftist.
Major Obama backer and member of Organizing For America.
Member of Truman National Security Project Defense Council. It has Joe Biden’s son, R. Hunter Biden on its board of directors. Remember, he was the one discharged from the Navy for being a cocaine head.
I agree that the Navy Vet should be able to comment on what he professes to be qualified on but I don't think the public should be allowed to carry torpedoes even with 40/80 hours of guberment training.
By the way, Guns are mounted on ships or other platforms. Weapons are carried by personnel.
Serving in the military is no guarantee that you aren’t a mentally ill liberal. This screed is evidence.
Who is funding this propagandist? Many of the statements he makes are nothing but pure propaganda and in many cases factually wrong. There is no “fringe” gun lobby just regular Americans. X hours of training? Just how does “hours” of training rather than knowledge, regardless of training, influence threat? And why does gun ownership need to be public? Could it be to harass, threaten, and intimidate those who don’t want to knuckle under to others? Where does public knowledge make people safe? This is disgusting propaganda.
Despite Americans becoming increasingly aware and educated regarding the threats to personal safety and health that are posed by the socialists, the socialists are simply increasing the push to oppress.
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