Locked and loaded...

At the risk of jumping into the firestorm of gun control, let me first say I'm not here to say I support the gun lobby, nor am I here as a left wing proponent of total gun abolishment for our citizens.  I'm that guy, right smack dab in the middle of this insanity, who's had enough.

To be honest, I'm REALLY tired of the 2nd Amendment folks saying it's their God given right to bear arms.  Yes, I get it, it's a right, per our Constitution and I'm very much behind all that.  Hey, just for full disclosure, I own a gun and very much enjoy having it.  Not just as a means of recreation but also as a little sense of security, given this day and age where home break-ins are more and more prevalent.  But gun people, rights require responsibility!  As I've said before, when it comes to authority and responsibility, you can't have one without the other.

So to start, how are we defining "arms"?  For me that's a HUGE issue in this whole war on guns thing.  Personally, I think of it as owning a pistol or a rifle.  But for others it means owning military grade assault weapons.  For the last few decades politicians and lobbyists from both sides of the aisle have spent millions fighting for an against a ban on guns, or a ban on certain guns, or a ban on guns with the letter "U" in it.  Whatever.  I just don't get it.  Be honest, gun people, why do you think you need a military grade weapon?  I really can't think of one logical reason for it.  You aren't going to hunt with it and I suspect in some places it would be considered illegal if you tried.  And besides, I don't think there would be much left of Bambi if you shot her with several rounds from a .50cal machine gun.  I don't believe we have any state or federal militias that would require you to have one.  I know there are those out there that insist the "government" is coming after them so they need to be able to protect themselves.  Ah, yeah.  Kids, let me tell ya, if there was money to be made in taking away everyone's guns, the politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, would be all over it.  So relax.  And besides, I have it on good authority the zombie apocalypse won't happen for some time.  At least I'm pretty sure.  So seriously, stop pissing about background checks and limitations on the types of guns you can have.  The more I hear about how someone needs an assault weapon the more I think it's an issue of what's lacking between their legs.

Now no matter how many mass shootings there are we ALWAYS attack the issue from a single vantage point and that's more gun control.  We definitely don't need more gun control but we sure need better.  I'll leave it at that.  But until we realize there is more to these incidents than the availability of guns we'll continue to watch our children die and people rage with nothing being done.  To coin AL G's phase, the "Inconvenient Truth" of the matter is that we also have to address the mental health issue that's the constant in nearly everyone of these horrible acts of violence and that's the point I think the gun control lobby misses.  Until we have the courage to create enforceable laws and programs that prohibit "at risk" individuals from having guns, we'll continue to see carnage on our public and school grounds.  So, my friends on the left, I know it sounds like I'm suggesting we sacrifice our personal privacy and freedoms but really I'm not.  Folks can go on living in deep, dark caves, ensuring their privacy, however, getting back to my "responsibility" comment, if an individual feels they have the authority to own a gun, then they have the responsibility to be transparent.

So what's the solution?  Just off the cuff, perhaps there's a national data base that captures names of individuals that doctors identify as being "at risk" of owning weapons.  Ok, I think half of you probably screamed "NAZI!", but hear me out.  There are no specific details provided in this database.  Just a flag, perhaps in an existing national database, that says "yes" or "no" to the question "Is this person able to buy a gun?"  Now, between you and your doctor(s), you can have assessments and discussions about your mental health and the doctor can make an assessment as to whether or not you're fit to own a weapon.  The doctor would be required by law to tell you that they intend on putting your name on this "no buy" list and you as the patient would have X amount of days to contest it before your name actually goes on the list.  I would expect there would be methods to adjudicate assessments as well as ways to get your name off the list, but the details I leave to career lawyer/politicians to figure out.  I know, I know, it seems heavy handed and a major invasion of our privacy but if an individual today can be denied a drivers licenses due to medical or mental health reasons, why not owning a gun?  

So you folks on the Right, you can't keep going on squawking about your rights to own a gun without owning up to your responsibility of being transparent and being reasonable in what you think you should be allowed to own.  And you folks on the Left, stop squawking about gun control without owning up to the fact that mentally disturbed people are the constant in every one of these shootings and it has to be dealt with just as much as changing laws.  We can't fight only the battles we feel like fighting.  This is one battle we ALL need to be on the same side.