“In the spirit of the movie Shoot’Em Up (which is awesome, by the way) and because I recently bought a pistol, I think this would be a good time to talk about gun control. Having grown up around hunting and target shooting, gun control is kind of a lame idea to me.”
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In the spirit of the movie Shoot’Em Up (which is awesome, by the way) and because I recently bought a pistol, I think this would be a good time to talk about gun control.

Having grown up around hunting and target shooting, gun control is kind of a lame idea to me. I guess that’s because I always felt gun control was more about keeping weapons out of incompetent hands more than anything else.

It’s true that accidents happen, and that most could be avoided by simply taking time to check if the chamber is empty or putting on a trigger lock. 

Mostly, though, accidents happen because of poor education.  New gun owners aren’t learning respect for their weapons, and in turn, are setting a bad example for kids.

To me, that was what gun control was really about, and I thought it was kind of lame.

However, I now realize that gun control is more about keeping guns out of criminals’ hands than keeping it out of the hands of citizens protected by the Second Amendment.

I have been thinking long and hard about how to best even out the debate between gun control and constitutional rights and I think I have a solution:  Give everyone guns.

I know that sounds ridiculous, but think about it. If you were going to rob a bank, and you knew that there was a potential that every single person in that bank was carrying a weapon, I’m sure you’d think twice.

Of course, that solution would probably only eliminate deliberate crime, not crimes of passion.

People get angry.  Really angry. People get angry enough they will kill someone for cutting them off in traffic.

Yeah, issuing arms to everyone isn’t such a good idea.

I guess we’ll just have to ban firearms. There’s not a doubt in my mind that our crack police units throughout the U.S. would be able to keep guns off the streets and out of the hands of criminals.

Really, when you think about it, a complete ban on guns would do is keep them out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. So a complete ban would also accomplish nothing.

While I don’t object to it, obtaining a firearm in the state of Ohio is extremely easy. Go to a local sporting goods store, find a weapon you like, go up to the counter, fill out a quick yes or no form, wait for a quick over-the-phone background check, pay and walk out the door.

Not all states give you this privilege though. California, for example, has a 10day waiting period to buy any type of weapon, also, there are certain types of pistols that aren’t legal in California.  Don’t ask me why, but my new Springfield .45 XD has a huge sticker on the case that says NOT LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA.

There’s no real good solution to gun control in the U.S.  The government can’t take away our guns because it would be infringing on our rights, but even more so because it would only accomplish disarming those who don’t want to be armed.

On the contrary, the government can’t just ignore the problem of gun violence either. I don’t think there is a way to cut back on gun violence, however I do believe there is a very plausible and effective way to cut down on gun accidents: education.

People have to learn their gun intimately; learn how to maintain it, how to store it safely and most importantly, learn how to respect it. Then they must do something else, they must teach this lesson to their children who will undoubtedly want to look at the weapon, anyone else who is thinking of purchasing a gun, and anyone who is improperly handles a gun.

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