I believe in being able to own a gun. But I feel because of gun violence we should have something in place to protect us and our children. I do not necessarily have the answer but I have some ideas. I believe it is the person holding the gun and not the gun who kills. However, we have an increasing problem and need solutions.
- No one needs an assault gun of any type. PERIOD
- There are some that should not have guns even if they are not a criminal. I worked with someone who tried to act like a “big shot”, and he was all for conceal and carry because he was going to “save the day.” I believe he would get an innocent person killed. I attended active shooter training at our church presented by a police officer who put a fantastic program together. A person I highly respect and did not see this attitude coming actually argued with the police officer about not getting involved. Mainly because if he is shooting his gun the police will think he is the active shooter not to mention the innocent people who might accidently be killed by him.
- Background checks for everyone owning a gun. Maybe even for rifle and shotgun.
- Bring the tone down. Stop trying to impress people or being a cowboy. This is not the wild west anymore. Let’s not make owning a gun such a big deal as in “I own a gun I’m a tough guy.” In at least the European countries, not many people own guns, they do not make a big deal about it and guess what…not a lot of gun violence.
- Require safety classes and licensure to own a gun. When teaching our children how to drive I told them this (car) is a weapon. It can kill you and others. Treat it that way. We all had to take classes, didactic and on the road, to learn and earn a drivers license. In WI (don’t know about other states) I had to take a hunter’s safety class, didactic and hands on, to be able to purchase a hunting license at age 12. You need to take classes to have conceal and carry.
- The classes should teach respect for the gun and people. By taking these classes people especially children might be given a different perspective. For example, if a person’s parents do not respect life and gun safety and encourage gun violence. Maybe the interaction with someone teaching safety and respect will have an influence. I have seen this happen with myself on different topics. I had an attitude or opinion because of my upbringing but then once educated I was able to change my mind.
- Growing up we had guns in the house. They were not locked up. I respected them. I knew not to play with them.
- As an adult we had guns in the house including a handgun. When it was given to me I took a class on how to properly use it. All guns were locked up. The ammunition was locked up in a different place. We probably should have had trigger locks.
- Even with all of this said I have lost an adult child to gun suicide. So, yes everything we had in place and thought we did correctly we still experienced gun violence.
This increase in gun violence is not OK!