With last week’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the Aurora Colorado theater shooting in July, there is a growing desire for stricter gun control laws. Those of us who support 2nd amendment rights are going to face severe regulations and loss of freedoms if we don’t start advocating for some reasonable changes in the laws.

I’m a Staunch Supporter of the Second Ammendment

I’m an Army Veteran

I am a conservative with very libertarian leanings. Until a couple of years ago, I was a registered Republican.

I am a Christian, holding many (but not all) of the views and beliefs that you would expect to come with that. I support and defend the right to bear arms. It is a reasonable form of defense of innocent life and one’s property. An armed citizenry is also a defense against tyranny.

All of that being said, I also believe that reasonable gun control laws can and should be strengthened and enacted. It shouldn’t be harder to adopt a puppy than buy an AR 15 with several 30 round clips, but you should be able to do both.

Time to rethink the gun sale process

I think it is time to admit that we shouldn’t allow guns to be legally sold or given as gifts to people that we know should not have them. It should be a crime to give or sell a firearm to someone you know to be violent, severely mentally unstable or a criminal, even if that person is your own son or daughter.

We require people (usually teens) to take a written test, have a learner’s permit and drive supervised for at least six months, take a driving test and then provide proof of liability insurance before they can drive on our roads. Yet, anyone can go on Craigslist or go to a gun show, and buy any gun with no questions asked, over, and over, and over.

Check out this video of a CNN reporter buying guns at gun shows.

I think that reasonable laws would not restrict anybody who is not a criminal and isn’t mentally ill from owning handguns or rifles for self-defense or hunting, but if you want to carry it loaded away from your home, you must have a permit.

Expand concealed carry laws to cover all weapons

Almost all states have some sort of concealed carry laws. Here in Oregon, we have a very good one. You can’t carry a loaded gun in public in a concealed manner without a concealed carry permit. This permit requires an extensive F.B.I. background check and classes and training about laws and gun safety. The permit is then approved and issued by the Sheriff in the county that you live in. A permit cannot be denied if you meet the requirements and you are not a convicted felon.

I think it would be reasonable to expand this to a national program.

Take a one or two-day class, undergo a FBI background check, have your application reviewed by your local Sheriff, and voila, you are a licensed concealed carry permit holder. Go buy any gun that is legal to own. Go buy as many high-capacity magazines as you want. Best of all, you won’t have to undergo the same background check over and over.

This permit should also come with responsibilities.

1. If you sell or loan your weapon to someone you know isn’t a licensed carrier, you will be held liable for what they do with the weapon, and lose your permit.
2. If your weapon is not on your person or within arms reach it must be unloaded and locked up or have a trigger lock on it. No exceptions. If failure to do this causes an accident, results in a theft, or allows someone who shouldn’t be in possession of a firearm to possess yours, you should, at a minimum, lose your concealed carry permit, but the penalty should drastically increase for repeat “lapses” in weapon safety or if a crime is committed with your weapon.
3. All sales must have a background check. No exceptions. If a person wants to buy your firearm, and he or she has a concealed carry permit, all it should require is a quick call to the issuing Sheriff’s office, or the FBI (or maybe the ATF) to verify that the permit is in good standing. If the buyer is not a permit holder, then meet at a local licensed gun dealer, pay a small fee and run the background check.
4. No more internet sales of guns or ammunition. The Aurora theater shooter bought a lot of ammo online.

You could still buy a weapon without a permit.

Non permit holders would not be barred from gun ownership, but each purchase would require the full background check, and your gun must remain in your home, or be dissasempled during transport.

These Aren’t Cure All Solutions

These ideas wouldn’t do anything to restrict gun ownership, but they would help stop people who should not have guns from obtaining them legally. They may also slow down the rate of accidental deaths of children, and maybe even have an effect on the rate of suicide by gun.