Skip to content

Tag: Troutdale

Published on

In the interest of healthy debate about our nation's gun violence problem (crushingly listed here):

  1. Title EACH gun like we do real estate and vehicles
  2. Require ALL sales, even between private citizens, be registered with the state like we do with real estate & vehicles
  3. Require category-specific licensing, like we do with vehicles and trucks. One non-automatic pistol license covers an infinite number of them, but semi-automatic or automatic handguns require elevated licenses, as would long guns, shotguns, hunting and assault-class weapons
  4. Require owners carry hazard insurance for EACH gun they own. Want to stockpile an arsenal? Call your free-market insurance broker first to see if you qualify for more insurance.
  5. Require proof of insurability and background checks for ALL sales, even private ones
  6. Charge and punish owners for crimes committed with their guns (another good reason to register sales with the state so you're no longer liable for a gun you sold)
  7. Require ALL guns be stored safely as a condition of licensing and insurability
  8. Set penalties, including seizure, for failure to secure guns from minors
  9. Allow law enforcement, medical and mental health professionals to temporarily flag individuals for precursor behaviors like domestic violence incidents, stockpiling, discontinuing anti-psychotic medications.
  10. Enable such flags to be included in background and insurability checks prior to sale (#5 above)

For the record, I'm not opposed to people owning guns and enjoying their use safely. I'm against claims that stockpiled possession is for individual protection and arguments that the 2nd Amendment makes gun ownership so sacred we can't talk about it rationally. I'm not against gun owners, I'm against a culture we've established in which we can't ask reasonable questions (even dumb questions) without ad hominem attacks from gun owners. And word to the gun-owning-wise: attacking the un-gunned online doesn't help your cause much. Lone-gunmen and 'active shooters' have given you such a bad reputation we can't distinguish them from open-carry advocates at the mall.