Mandatory Firearms Training
I recently read a facebook post, from Chester, a good friend of mine, recommending that gun owners undergo some sort of mandatory training in order to exercise their 2nd amendment rights. Another acquaintance of mine, Christopher, jumped on the bandwagon. ‘Training is good…’ they say. Well, they’re right, training is good. ‘Mandatory’ training, however, is most certainly not a good thing.
I’m going to strenuously disagree with my good friends Christopher and Chester on this one. Applying this sort of logic to the 1st amendment, you could purchase a typewriter or computer, but if you’re going to publish your opinions, well, that requires a license. Sound good to you? “ …the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Please explain to me how what you’re proposing does not infringe on the right to bear arms? Can you give me an example of any other right that depends on training, licensing, or fees in order to exercise that right? Who do you propose we trust to tell us how much training we need, how much is ‘fair’ in licensing fees, what other restrictions we might have… Nancy Pelosi? Barack Obama? Claire McCaskill?
What benefits are going to come of gun owners accepting these restrictions on our right, acknowledging that our rights are subject to government approval, and therefore, not really rights at all, but privileges? Chester proposes that “this type of law would probably save the lives of lot children who are killed every year in accidental shootings”. According to the national center for health statistics, the annual number of deaths among children due to accidental shooting is down 90% since 1975. 1.1% of all accidental deaths are caused by firearms. With all of the regulations, taxes, and fees applied to driving a vehicle, vehicles still account for 41% of accidental deaths in this country. Do you really believe legislation requiring training, safe storage, licensing fees, etc. is really going to lower this number significantly? There is no benefit, aside from making people ‘feel’ safer, in any such legislation.
Carrying a firearm for self-defense without sufficient training is stupid. On that point we can agree. Legislation banning stupidity is even more so. I pray that you will both reconsider your positions. Actively campaigning for additional restrictions on our rights is good for one group of people only, those who want to do away with the 2nd amendment altogether. Right now, Obama is pushing some BS about 90% of gun owners who want universal background checks. This kind of thing hurts… badly.
Divide and conquer works for them. In 94, Clinton used duck hunters to push his ‘nobody needs an AR’ agenda, and got his assault weapons ban passed. In 86, nobody stood against the Hughes amendment, and the full-auto registry was closed, without so much as a whimper from pro-2a groups. Now, you want to voluntarily divide us again, in to pro/anti mandatory training camps? We MUST STAND TOGETHER. No new anti-gun legislation, no new restrictions on the 2nd amendment, whatsoever. If we don’t, it’s only a matter of time, they’ll all be gone.