Set the age for the purchase of EITHER pistols or long guns at age 18, same as for the right to vote, or to act as an adult in every other aspect of life.
With one criteria: to obtain the right to purchase a firearm, much like the right to operate a motor vehicle on the public roads, a course of instruction MUST be followed before the license is issued.
Expose ALL youth, regardless of any other trait or factor, to the handling, care, feeding and use of firearms at a relatively early age, preferable before or during their high school years. Much as drivers education is pretty much mandated for early acquisition of a driver’s license, training in the proper protocols and rules for handling weaponry capable of sending a projectile along an aimed path would serve to drive home the lesson that gunplay is no joke. Further training in the techniques of selecting suitable targets, aiming, properly discharging the weapon, and being able to account for the consequences, would have the objective of instilling a sense of responsibility in the novice.
Yes, we are dealing with a device that could potentially maim or kill. But the same may be said of tools used in shop class, or of motor vehicles, and millions manage to grow up anyway even in the presences of these hazardous pieces of equipment, so long as they obey the rules set down, rules that were painfully worked out in the past and have the practical aspect of actually being effective.
In the process of giving this training on as nearly universal a basis as practical, some few of the aspirants will prove to be unfit, for one reason or another, to have weaponry in their possession, as they may lack impulse control, or simply be a malevolent personality.This identification should be relatively simple to spot early on, and appropriate action taken to assure these inept or troubled persons are steered into a set of circumstances in which authorities could monitor their actions.
Oh, yeah. And take away this fanatical mandate that schools and most other public places are designated as “gun-free zones”.
No. Owning a firearm is a right, driving is not. The state can set licensing requirements to operate a car but not to own a firearm. What is this firearms license you speak of? It doesn’t exist in my state.