Living With Death

Living With Death

I thought I would sit down and write
the obligatory left wing, pinko, commie ,bleeding heart liberal response to the latest ho hum mass murder in Oregon.  You know, I really don’t consider myself deserving of all of those adjectives but I suppose quite a lot of you do.  For the time being I would like for us to suspend all of those little catch-phrases we use to avoid talking about the 8oo pound gorilla.  I would like for us to try to find some effective compromise that could result in making these occurrences a bit rarer.  Compromise just means that we recognize that there exists a problem for which we need a solution.  The nature of compromise is such that all parties give up something and nobody gets all they want.
One of the things I am willing to give up is denying private ownership of weapons.  I do not think it is doable but I also do not think there is an unabridgeable constitutional protection of that right.  We limit constitutional protections all of the time.  I am a gun owner and I have no desire to surrender my weapons.  I am, however, under no illusion that they would be any protection against a home intruder.  They are put up and unloaded.  Now, I know some of you sit on the couch watching TV with a pocket gun but I think that’s just weird.  But, if that’s what floats your boat so be it.  You make me nervous and if you show it to me at Kroger I am outta there.
Here are a few things that I think would help that should not be too much of a burden. They won’t stop our murderous impulses but they could reduce mass casualties.

• Ban assault type weapons.  For heaven’s sake!  Why do we need then?  I have a deer rifle that is quite suitable for its purpose.
  
• Limit high capacity magazines.  What rational need is there for a 30 round deer rifle?  Or a 22 round Glock other than to kill a lot of people.  9 rounds should be more than enough.
  
• Limit the number of weapons a person can buy in a year without being a registered gun dealer.  There can be reasonable exceptions for collectors, etc.
  
• Expanded, universal background checks.  Over 90% of the people favor this.
  
• Require liability insurance for all weapons.  Insurance companies are very good at assessing risk.  This will make people mad because people really like not having to be responsible with their wallets.  However, this would probably do more than anything to encourage responsible gun ownership.  Gun manufacturers will hate this because they don’t care how responsible you are.  The NRA will hate it because it is financed by the manufacturers.
  

   Even these modest regulations will not stop all or even most gun violence but over time they may reduce the mass casualties.  Most gun violence is committed by suicides and domestic disputes and these regulations will have little effect on those but we need to start the conversation somewhere.  Also, the effect may not be seen immediately since it will take time to work through the market.
Today President Obama visited Oregon to offer his condolences to the survivors and families and was met by hundreds of gun toting people with placards telling the President of the United States he was not welcome.  It was as shocking as it was nauseating to watch people who should be coming together to console and to grieve being more concerned with their own selfish desires.  In other news today, evangelical Christian and presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson suggested that if the Jews in Germany had been armed they might have not had to endure the holocaust.
Maybe there are some of you that are willing to engage in peaceful and intelligent dialogue on this issue.  It is a hot button topic but try to resist pushing that button and be calm.  If you are interested in seeking solutions either write his paper or me personally ad I promise to engage in a reasonable manner.  There are a few arguments that I have heard that are just slogans and bear no value as arguments without facts enumerated in support.

• Guns don’t kill people, people kill people
  
• Only outlaws will have guns.
  
• Slippery slope.
  
• Takes a good man with a gun to stop a bad man with a gun.
  

You can make these arguments.  Just use facts to support them.
It’s My Take that we can curb gun violence without removing weapons used for sport, protection or collecting if we are willing to be reasonable.  It is also My Take that there are a whole lot of people who are not willing to do that.