My rant on guns…

First of all, I believe that responsible people should be allowed to own guns.  Criminals should be vigorously prosecuted when they use or traffic in firearms.  I don’t think that anyone is advocating that the government should take away your firearms.  Now, having said that, it doesn’t mean that firearms shouldn’t be regulated.

A friend of mine gave a very pointed analogy (thanks Larry).  When you want to adopt a kitten from the shelter, you first must submit an application.  That application is subject to a background check, and following that check, the shelter will schedule to go visit your home to see if you live in an environment suitable to bring up a kitten.  People may grouse a little, but everyone accepts that as a viable way to adopt a kitten.  If you want to drive a car, you must take some form of instruction and pass a test in order to be licensed to drive.  Your vehicle must also be registered and regularly inspected to assure that it is functioning properly. 

We accept those intrusions in our lives when we want to drive or own a kitten as a matter of course.  However, when someone suggests the slightest bit of gun control, people start a well-rehearsed chorus of histrionics citing the second amendment and spreading fear that the government wants to take our guns.  The key point is that in a civil society, we need to enact some measures to assure that life is protected; from the life of a kitten to the lives of the passengers in your car.

Guns are instruments that can easily end a life and therefore should be regulated at least to the degree of a kitten.  So let’s look at the intrusive measures that the government wants to impose on gun owners:

- Universal background checks and enhancing the ability to perform those checks

- Restrictions on military style assault weapons. (Personally, I don’t believe in a ban, but that these types of weapons should be limited to registered collectors or specialty firing ranges.)

- Restrictions on high capacity ammunition clips.

There’s nothing there that even elevates to the level of adopting a kitten, let alone driving a car.  People have the right to own a gun, but shouldn’t those people at least be able to demonstrate a basic competency?  Yes, putting restrictions on gun ownership makes it more difficult for honest gun owners, but it also makes it slightly more difficult for criminals to obtain guns, and more importantly, it makes prosecuting gun related crimes easier.

There is no slippery slope on this issue, and people shouldn’t start comparing the Government to the Nazis if it wants to enact minimal gun regulations (an interesting side note is that the Nazis had some of the most liberal gun regulations of any government, for everyone except the Jews).  Therefore, if you are a responsible gun owner, good, I’m in full support of you.  If the zombie apocalypse happens, I want you right there next to me double tapping each and every zombie we find.  However, if we can enact some regulations on firearms in this country that even comes close to the level achieved by a person wanting to adopt a kitten, then I believe we’ve at least made a statement that says we respect the safety of our population.