Blanket ban on guns is not safest path

In the wake of Sandy Hook, gun control voices calling for bans on assault rifles and increased gun control are too loud to ignore.

The Second Amendment is about preserving a people's ability to combat tyrannical governments and preserving an individual's right not to be a killer's victim. It is not about hunting or target practice, and it is in the interest of liberty that the public's “fire power” is maximized. Balancing that interest with the interest of security requires thoughtful answers, not blanket solutions.

What is reasonable in the wake of Virginia Tech, Aurora and Sandy Hook is to first reinvest in mental health: Many of these killers would be in asylums if we accepted the idea that certain people are mad and will visit carnage on others for carnage's sake. Second, we must integrate firearm safety and use into the curriculum of every high school, acquainting every American with firearms. Third, we must begin recruiting peace officers to moonlight as teachers. This would allow trained people to match force with force in otherwise “soft target” environments.

Lastly, instead of a ban on semi-automatic rifles or a limit on clip size, perhaps something more effective: without a permit (vouchsafing a person's marksmanship and mental health), make only low-velocity frangible bullets available for so-called “assault” rifles.

Sound ideas that preserve essential liberty but place meaningful barriers between law abiding citizens and those with malicious intent require people to think, whereas blanket bans provide unthinking comfort.

David Sheets

Toddville