From: osan@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (Mr. X)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Re: Policing Ourselves
Date: 19 Aug 92 22:16:27 GMT
Organization: Twilight Zone

In article <18AUG199212372337@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov> spzkny@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (JAMES ZAKANY) writes:
>Why don't we (gun owners) police ourselves to insure that gun owners are 
>competent to own and operate such a potentially dangerous device?

	A good idea, to be sure.  This is the way in which we can make it
	socially fasionable to be firearms literate, though it really *is*
	a shame that simple common sense does not prevail as perhaps it
	may have a bit more strongly in years past.
>
>The best NRA activity (IMO) are its educational services.  If backing 
>allows, I would like to see it promote a gun safety standard.  Passing such 
>a course would be a prerequisite to purchasing/registering a gun.  

	HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!  This is a terrible idea.  Too open to the abuses
	of salami politics.  Rather that we should make it something that
	people WANT to do rather than HAVE to do.  I have ZERO doubt that
	the proper incentives can be conjured up.

	Another area where education is needed in the worst way is in the 
	schools.  Kids blow shoot themselves (or others) largely because they
	don't know what in hell they are doing.  And while the incidence 
	of these types of events seems to be on the decline, it still happens
	far too often.  Granted, this really is the responsibility of the
	parents, but there is surely no harm in providing firearms education
	to our kids in school and probably lots of benefits.  So it would
	be quite beneficial IMO if large numbers of parents would organize
	themselves and DEMAND that such programs be put in place in their
	communities.  Even if they do not have guns in their homes it is
	still a good thing for their kids to understand firearms and to be 
	able to handle them properly since there is no guarantee that any
	given child will never come into contact with a gun.

>The last 
>thing that I would like to see is our government handling this...but that's 
>what I see on the horizon if the responsible gun owners in this country 
>continue to assert that buying a gun is like buying a fishing pole!

	That's fine as long as it is a voluntary system and not mandated
	by law.  The judicious and proper application of social pressure
	can and certainly would see the vast and overwhelming majority of
	people abiding by what makes good sense.  Educate and persuade,
	don't legislate.  Make weapons literacy part of the culture and
	most of the problems we have in this regard would disappear.  The
	legislative task should be to deal with those that have acted in
	ways that are criminal and/or criminally negligent.  Leave the rest
	to us.
>
>A licensing program for firearms 
>is not a bad thing - but please, don't leave it up to the government!

	A licensing program for guns IS most definitely a VERY BAD thing,
	left to the Guv or anyone else.  With time it becomes a power thing
	and is every bit as prone to abuse by a group that by default becomes
	the defacto authority as any lousy Guv bureau.  Besides, without
	force of law people can tell the "governing body" to go suck an egg.
	And if there is force of law behind the "governing body" then the Guv
	has gotten its grimy little paws on it and then it is certainly bound
	to be abused.
>
	It sounds as if you, like so many other people, are looking for the 
	easy way out, i.e. to have a formula that we are all somehow bound
	to abide by under the force of some mechanism external to the
	individual.  This is quite typically contemporary American along with
	all those "lose 5000 pounds in 38 minutes" diets, and the multitudinous
	host of other quick-fix/instant gratification schemes that we are
	bombarded with daily.  The mentality has crept into the very fabric
	of our thinking and is as perditious as anything can possibly be.
	
	What you propose is not characteristic of a free and responsible
	society made up of individuals that have the guts to live strong
	and deliberate lives, but rather of imbecile children that want
	their toys but not the responsibility of handling and keeping them
	on their own and in an intelligent manner.  Rather they would that
	the Guv were there to hold their hands and tell them what to do every
	step of the way that they might not have to engage in the fearfully
	unpleasant task of having to do REAL thinking and having to take
	responsibility for something where failure might result in immediate
	and severe consequences.  This is a wimpy, cowardly and sluggard 
	attitude, and those that have it don't deserve freedom but rather 
	a good kick in the ass.	 Safe handling of arms is one of the easiest
	things that anyone could do.  The only requirement is the proper
	attitude which more than anything demands you be alert and mindful
	of your actions.  IOW, RESPONSIBLE, and I mean REALLY responsible as
	in ALL THE TIME and not just when it suits you.

	BTW, I intend none of this as a flame directed to you.  


	-Andy V.