Journalists shot, killed in Virginia during live shot

Providing an excuse for Vester Lee Flanagan. Nice work, Baron. #justwhenyouthink...

 

Reason and deserving are two different words for a reason.

 

Rightly or wrongly, the guy felt put upon because of his race. It's not an excuse. It's what the guy was thinking.

#itscallednuancedumbass

 

OK, I am at a keyboard, and I am working on my fifth beer. Now to solve the country's gun problems.

Let's try not to get the thread locked. I don't care who is racist. We all have biases. We are all human. Some of those biases go further and become racist biases. It's a matter of degree.

Let's get back to what can be done constitutionally about guns. Here is one of the problems I have - so what if you go through a successful background check at the time of purchase? You can become an utter looney tune long after purchasing a weapon. Background checks only deter the immediate threat of someone who has no guns rushing off to purchase one who in the heat of the moment wants to commit a crime immediately. Having a cool off period sort of helps, but only a small percentage of the time. Background checks are more of a deterrent, but not a very effective one at that.

 

You said it was going to be Ragu-length. Was that the first in a five-part series?

 

Intro, hold on!

 

Where did he say it was going to be Ragu length?

 

You're welcome!

 

Those of us who can handle nuance inferred it ...

 

Roof killed the people in the church because they were black. This asshole killed the two people because they worked for the TV station that let him go.

Seems a pretty clear difference to me.

 

OK, here is what I have been thinking about. A way that people can own as many guns as they want, but with some caveats pertaining to safety, education, and a bit of responsibility that goes to the benefit of the country and its people.

In my experience with hunting, and for target practice, you really only need two types of guns - a shotgun and a rifle. Both long-barreled weapons. Harder to conceal, less likely to be used in a crime.

Then there are handguns. I am mostly of the opinion that follows the Lynyrd Skynyrd principle of throwing them all to the bottom of the sea. But that is unrealistic, unfortunately.

So, let's propose that as a U.S citizen (with no felony convictions or any other reasons that would prevent you from owning firearms), you can own as many as you like. Keep buying. Make the gun manufacturers happy.

But, you are allowed to ONLY keep one shotgun, one rifle and one handgun at your house. [I actually prefer to make this ZERO handguns at your house, but this is a compromise.]

All the rest of what you own have to be checked in, like a library, if you will, at new Homeland Defense Armories, which will be located at each and every police station across the country. This will require new buildings to be built (new jobs!), which consist of secure facilities with bank vault and deposit box like features (more jobs to build such things!) and then require the staffing of said Armories (even more jobs!). The staff will be fully trained, weaponized folks who can both defend the facility and be friendly enough to help you check your weapons back out on an as needed basis. Each facility is going to need at least three or four people to man a 24/7 hour facility, with the co-located police station as back up.

Now, these Homeland Defense Armories are meant to safeguard weapons, but also make you feel a little patriotic and responsible to your country. You could also call the HDAs "Arsenals of Democracy" to further wrap the Red, White and Blue around it. Each person would register themselves, undergo background checks at the time of gun registration and deposit, and also at times of withdrawal.

Furthermore, as being a registered user of an HDA, you are signing up to be part of a government militia, to be called upon in times of need when the country is in crisis. Such situations could include helping recover from natural disasters, protecting against rioting and looting, or helping to fend off an invasion of ISIS infidels in the US Homeland. The country could some day need you. When called upon, rush to your HDA, get your guns as directed, and meet up and be prepared to serve your country. Like the good old Civil Defense days.

How to fund all of this? Well, the government of course would foot some of the bill, and particularly getting all of these Armories built. View it as important as the building of the nation's interstate system. Infrastructure.

And the gun manufacturers can foot the bill for some of it, which of course would then be passed on to the customer, raising gun prices, and maybe reducing sales a bit, but that might be an OK thing.

And have a fee for the general population - primarily on those who have to check in weapons into the HDAs because of the size of their collection. Hopefully this will be a nominal fee, similar to renewing your license plates and driver's license.

Anyway, the cost can be borne. The cost in lives lost cannot.

Checkout procedures from the HDAs? How do you get your gun back and use it? This is an area that requires a lot more thought, but I am thinking checkouts of 24, 48, or 72 hour periods for daily or weekend hunts or target practice. Get your gun, do your thing, return and check it back in. Failure to check your weapon back in results in fines and possible criminal penalties (jail).

And on a more infrequent basis, allow one or two week checkout periods for those who go on extended hunts (week long vacations for example). These could be permitted a couple of times per year, and especially during hunting season.

Now, as nutty as all this sounds, keep in mind that my original stipulation is that you get to keep one shotgun, one rifle and one handgun at home. So, if you keep your most trusty hunting weapons at home, you don't have to keep visiting the HDAs to check it out.

Anyway, that is the basis of my thoughts. By this method, a citizen could own as many guns as he/she wants (but, has a safe place to store them and has to check them out if more than one shotgun, one rifle and one handgun). Also, by becoming involved in the Home Defense Armories program, you enroll in a national militia system as described above. This traces back to the origins of the second amendment, and perhaps what our Founding Fathers had in mind.

There are many more details to add to the above. Like, magazine size restrictions (which I would view as needing to be limited as to what you have at home, but larger magazines could be stored at the HDA). And ammo - I guess that would mostly be stored at home. Buy as much as you want. Hoard it.

Also, if someone wants to become a gun owner, then they have to take safety classes and gun handling training and certification. They have to watch films of what accidents look like, similar to what drivers education used to be. Gun owners need to see videos of what gun injuries can cause, including people's heads blown off. If there is one thing I have learned, you need to learn gun safety, and treat your ownership responsibly. You need to know whether the gun is loaded or not, and you need to know how to handle it regardless of whether it is loaded or not.

To keep this short, I will blast this post out now, and let you ridicule me. But, what I am trying to do here is think outside of the box, while staying within the Constitution. This Home Defense Armories proposal allows people to own as many guns as they want, and the right to bear them, and even makes a connection to doing so in a responsible manner for the good of the country in a quasi-militia format if needed.

OK, fire away. I am finishing off my fifth beer.

 

I like Chris Rock's idea: We need bullet control.