Apr 16, 2021Liked by Chris J. Karr, David Thornton
Totally concur. I don’t agree with many of the left’s attempted solutions to stopping mass shootings, but when the other side’s only proposed solutions involve “thoughts and prayers” or MORE people being armed in public, it’s hard not to think, why not give some of this gun control a chance?
If the right offered proposals that actually seemed like genuine attempts to curb this violence, I’d be amenable. But right now they just seem to want to kick the can down the road. And most of America is sick of that.
I'm in full agreement that much reform is needed in regards to policing, whether it be standards for conduct both on/off duty, enhanced training, more money to attract better officers, etc.... That said, Patterico pointed out something that makes me agree that the shooting is likeley justifiable: in the moment, the officer had seen/suspected the kid holding a gun, and the kid turned around to put his hands up. Unfortunately, the officer saw the turn-around as potentially life-threatening ('cause it could have been). The kid may be alive today if he had frozen and put his hands-up. This does not absolve the officer/dept for making a false statement in the report (should that be punishable?), and frankly I think this is one of those situations where there should be a court inquiry a la Steve's suggestion earlier this week that there be more officers charged for shootings.
I'd love to see a tiered licensing system: pump/break-action shotguns and bolt-action rifles at the lowest (requiring background/psych evaluations and safety training). Higher tiers require additional training and more frequent evals.
1st question: should you have a gun? Background check and psych eval takes care of that.
2nd question: should you still have a gun? Mental health changes over time, so require re-licensing every X period of time.
3rd: what weapons should you be able to get? The aforementioned ones are good entry-level as they allow for both hunting and self-defense.
Want an AR-15? More training and evals, and perhaps a shorter license term.
Want to get a handgun? That's even more evals/training/shorter term, because to quote Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Handguns are made for killing, they ain't no good for nothin' else".
Have a grace period to allow current lawful owners to get licensed, and buybacks for those that can't/won't.
Totally concur. I don’t agree with many of the left’s attempted solutions to stopping mass shootings, but when the other side’s only proposed solutions involve “thoughts and prayers” or MORE people being armed in public, it’s hard not to think, why not give some of this gun control a chance?
If the right offered proposals that actually seemed like genuine attempts to curb this violence, I’d be amenable. But right now they just seem to want to kick the can down the road. And most of America is sick of that.
I'm in full agreement that much reform is needed in regards to policing, whether it be standards for conduct both on/off duty, enhanced training, more money to attract better officers, etc.... That said, Patterico pointed out something that makes me agree that the shooting is likeley justifiable: in the moment, the officer had seen/suspected the kid holding a gun, and the kid turned around to put his hands up. Unfortunately, the officer saw the turn-around as potentially life-threatening ('cause it could have been). The kid may be alive today if he had frozen and put his hands-up. This does not absolve the officer/dept for making a false statement in the report (should that be punishable?), and frankly I think this is one of those situations where there should be a court inquiry a la Steve's suggestion earlier this week that there be more officers charged for shootings.
I'd love to see a tiered licensing system: pump/break-action shotguns and bolt-action rifles at the lowest (requiring background/psych evaluations and safety training). Higher tiers require additional training and more frequent evals.
1st question: should you have a gun? Background check and psych eval takes care of that.
2nd question: should you still have a gun? Mental health changes over time, so require re-licensing every X period of time.
3rd: what weapons should you be able to get? The aforementioned ones are good entry-level as they allow for both hunting and self-defense.
Want an AR-15? More training and evals, and perhaps a shorter license term.
Want to get a handgun? That's even more evals/training/shorter term, because to quote Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Handguns are made for killing, they ain't no good for nothin' else".
Have a grace period to allow current lawful owners to get licensed, and buybacks for those that can't/won't.