I really do wonder if the world has gone mad. Friends are having conversations about owning a gun, and just how far they would go to protect themselves. Friends spend their days target practicing because it's fun, and it's a good-to-know skill.
A good-to-know skill. God help us.
We are shaken up by the violence in our communities and schools and homes. We don't know what to do. Guns are everywhere, and we know it. More and more we are coming to believe the only way to be prepared is to arm ourselves.
Most of us know history well enough to realize we are in much more danger without the right to bear arms. The 2nd Amendment is an essential right, even knowing among us there are life takers. Gun Control advocates stand on one side demanding regulatory responses and follow through, or the removal of guns altogether. The Pro-2nd-Amendmenters stand on the other side saying, don't mess with our right to bear arms, and they do not believe any legislative body could ever propose anything to target the problem without encroaching on the right.
Both sides are right. Each state has its own regulations and California is one of the most stringent, and yet we continually struggle with our violent communities. It is a multi-pronged problem, to be sure. I would like to point out, though, that it isn't just about the gun owner. Take me for example: I have total access to weapons because I live in the home with guns. I have access to them and have never had a background check or taken a gun safety class including weapon storage.
This exact situation is played out across America: people come and go from our homes and have access to weapons without a knowledge of how to handle and respect them. What if they don't have a man like my husband who is expert at handling and understanding the safe storage in a gun safe, and who has made absolutely sure I know how to safely handle a weapon?
The only sensible place to begin is with Access. We need a national safety policy that gun owners have to provide proof of a gun safe in order to pick up a weapon or transfer ownership. We need to focus on the importance of safe storage, perhaps in a mandatory class with statistics and personal stories on why the policy is there. And we need to never look away when guns are not stowed safely. No one gets a pass. There needs to be levied an outrageous - and I mean outrageous - fine for non-compliance.
Yes, it will be hard to implement. Certainly not harder than burying a child. Not harder than watching your juvenile ruin their life for murdering a neighbor girl who didn't let him see her puppies. Not harder than looking a victim's parents in the eye during the trial and having no voice for the depth of your sorrow. Not harder than living with the guilt of not recognizing the danger in a family member before a massacre. Not harder than living in fear of your neighbor.
Tackle access first, and from there take on the legislation that tightens full compliance and follow through of what is already on the books, add peripheral hands training classes for families of gun owners, and insist on background checks that actually turn up useful information.
The #1 unalienable right in the US Constitution is Life. It is listed before Liberty and before the Amendments. For those qualified to own a gun but too stupid to see the benefits of safe storage, fix that with a firm, consistent and reasonable requirement for gun safe storage, which is in the best interests of all. To Life!
