A Few Words on Guns

It's been quite a while since I've written one of these things.  It was a busy summer and it's been a busy year doing my last year rotations for pharmacy school.  I have thought of numerous blog topics, but haven't really ever sat down to write one of them.  The thing that prompted me to write this one was the three very heated conversations I've been around in the last 5 days on the topic and the fact that I am not one to interrupt such "discussions" so never really got to explain my take.  So here goes…

I could write for days about gun control and the different opinions of people all across the spectrum from complete pacifists to anarchists (and we're seeing all kinds come out of the woodwork right now).  I don't want to do that, though, I just want to address what I think the problem actually is and some reasonable solutions for improving our system and hopefully preventing some of the violence and tragedies we have seen.

MENTAL HEALTH

The first solution I think of every time I hear one of these stories on the news is not related to gun control, but to mental health.  Society has moved a long way from putting all of the people with mental disabilities in asylums, but there is still a stigma.  That and the fact that mental illness can't be visually seen and isn't as easily measured makes it difficult for people to get help.  It is just as important to evaluate our mental health options for children (especially those with broken homes or living in lower-income households) and for adults who can't afford it or don't have the support of family and friends that is often taken for granted.  I don't have any idea what a specific improvement would be, as I have little experience with or knowledge of  that system, but it needs attention and it is a shame that gun control pushes this very important medical factor out of the public's eye every time there's a similar tragedy.

GUN SAFETY AT HOME AND WITH YOUR KIDS

Now for gun control itself.  Before we go so far as to ban everything or start taking away guns from people who would never use them in a crime, there are numerous things that could be done to control gun violence and injuries.  The first is safety at home.  Gun owners have a HUGE responsibility with security.  Owning a gun means that you are responsible for where it is and whose hands it gets into.  For someone who lives alone, that may be as easy as keeping guns out of sight from outside, keeping your house locked,  and keeping reasonable measures in place to deter theft.  However, in homes with other people, especially children, there are more steps that need to be taken.  Gun locks and safes come in a huge variety of options.  You can get a big climate-controlled, Fort-Knox-like gun safe, but you can also get a sturdy lock for less than ten dollars.  There is no reason why someone in your house should be able to get to your gun if you don't intend them to.  Many of the tragic shootings are not committed by gun owners themselves, but by people who live in a house where guns have been left unsecured and/or accessible.  Another thing that should be done in households with guns is the education of kids at a young age.  What you let your child do at what age all depends on your comfort level, beliefs, and their maturity.  At minimum, though, you can't just keep guns hidden and not discuss safety.  Kids are curious and will find anything you try to hide.  So a better option is to teach them what a gun is, how they can be used for their intended purposes, but also dangerous and fatal if used improperly.  For older children, safe gun handling is vital.  The three basic rules, if followed, can prevent almost any accident: always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use, and always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to use.   In addition to those: don't ever touch a gun at home or at someone else's house without asking permission from your parents.  If you don't want to teach a kid to shoot or use the gun, fine.  But at least teach them how to be safe when there's a gun in the house.

GUN LICENSING?

Ok now here's my fix for the gun control issue that we're facing as a country.  Licensing.  When you turn 16 and wish to drive, you can get your driver's license.  When you turn an appropriate age and would like to buy, own, or use a gun, there should be a license for that.  Just like there are requirements for classes and exams (both written/knowledge and practical exams) for driving, there should be training and exam requirements for gun ownership.  When you get that license, they would do a criminal background check as well as a check for history of mental illness (which, if present, would be evaluated by a physician for relevance to gun safety concerns).  Just like you have to renew your driver's license, you would have to renew your gun license.  Those checks would be repeated upon each renewal.  When I buy a gun, I have absolutely no problem with background checks, and wouldn't even if they were required periodically after the initial purchase.  Neither should anyone else who owns a gun for non-criminal purposes.  Yes, it would be even more of a hassle than the process is now, but when it comes to the safety and security of schools and society, you should be willing to step through a couple of hoops for an elective purchase of something that has the potential to easily be lethal in the wrong hands.

OUR RIGHTS AND BETTER MANAGEMENT THAN OUTRIGHT BANS

With all I said about licensing, you'll notice I didn't say anything about the government telling you what you can and can't have.  Sure, high-capacity magazines aren't NECESSARY.  And there are a lot of situations where semi-automatic actions are more than you need.  But restrictions on those things shouldn't be made on a global level, they should be made for specific situations.  Pistols have the potential to be more dangerous and tricky to handle than long guns.  So don't ban them for everyone, implement an age requirement (which we have: 18 to buy a long gun, 21 for a pistol).  Having a gun where alcohol is consumed opens up more room for problems.  So don’t ban the gun, just restrict what you can have with you at various locations (bars, stadiums, schools, etc.).  I personally don't think there's any reason a regular citizen would  need an "assault rifle," but as Americans, we have rights to own what we choose to own, even if there are requirements to doing so. The answer isn't tightening down what you can and can't have, it's in ensuring that people who own guns are adequately knowledgeable in safety and have been background-checked and that special locations or circumstances are evaluated and mitigated individually.  (One exception is that I don't think there's any reason for anyone to have an automatic gun, but I'm not going to delve into detail there.)

IN CONCLUSION

So in summary (whew, that was a long blog), the answer to gun control shouldn't be to ban guns altogether but rather to enhance our current system in a way that better reviews criminal and mental history as well as evaluates a buyer's knowledge, skills, and attitude in regards to gun safety.  Gun-owning parents need to educate their children on firearm safety and all gun owners need to put sufficient measures in place to prevent unauthorized access to their guns.  I found a quotation from Thomas Jefferson (said to George Washington): "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them."  That statement describes me pretty well.  I got interested in guns after running a rifle range and teaching various courses, and I enjoy the sport of target shooting, plinking, and trap/skeet.  I don't hunt, but only because I don't want to deal with the associated mess.  And having guns for home/personal defense gives some piece of mind, but I hope I'm never in a situation that they'd be necessary for that.  If we do ban guns, the criminals will still get them one way or another.  That ban would affect the law-abiding citizen and probably wouldn't reduce crime in the way gun-ban-advocates would hope.  I'll close with an interesting comparison and another quote from Jefferson.

Chicago has some of the most stringent gun control laws, yet is on the very high end of crime rates.  In contrast, a small city in Montana required  every adult to carry a gun for a certain period of time and the crime rate went down to zero.  (Just some food for thought).

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." 
--Thomas Jefferson, quoting Cesare Beccaria in On Crimes and Punishment (1764).