I agree that black market gun sales are likely the biggest contributor to major criminals having guns... so... gun control laws wouldn't likely have much effect on them. But the argument that making gun control laws stricter is pointless because it won't have an effect is a false argument, though I can't remember the name for that kind of argument... maybe it fits into straw man. Gun control laws being made stricter doesn't have to be aimed at those criminals. What about all the mass shootings where people buy guns legally when they really shouldn't have been able to? Can't we try to address those? I'd like my kids to be able to go to school without having to do active shooter drills, and without having to wonder if they're going to get shot there. Obviously, whatever we're doing now isn't working... so, something has to change. I'm not okay with children dying in school. Are you?
Mental Health Issues & Background Checks
Right now, people like James Holmes can legally buy firearms and commit mass murder like he did at the Aurora Colorado Shooting in 2012. At age 11 he tried to commit suicide, and was working with a social worker who reported that he believed "Nail Ghosts" were fighting each other with firearms. He was depressed and obsessed with killing for over a decade according to James himself. This is not a well man. But the information about his broken mind was not available to the background check system apparently, because he was legally able to buy his guns. You know what? Instead of me trying to provide an article's worth of information... this is an article about the laws around who can and cannot buy guns.
So, what I'm getting at is that while the existing laws have apparently already helped with preventing people who shouldn't have guns from buying them, the background check system and even the laws around mental health issues and firearms can be improved. And when talking to a person who loudly speaks out against gun control laws... I don't understand why this would be a problem for them. Unless they have reasons they shouldn't own guns. The system is already in place... it just needs to be made better. And sharing of information between states and law enforcement agencies in general is a great step to keep convicted felons from crossing state lines to buy guns. This move would prevent zero people who should be allowed to own guns from buying them. And it would definitely prevent more people who shouldn't own them from buying them from gun stores. They'd have to go to much bigger lengths and might fail.
Another step we should take in my opinion is removing the stigma around mental health issues. Right now if a person admits they see a therapist, psychologist, or Psychiatrist there is a stigma around it. General reaction is to think less of the person. But... if a person with a mental health problem is self-aware enough to ask for help... I applaud that person. That person is impressive for recognizing that they need help. And if the people around them help instead of deriding them for having a problem, the world would be a better place, and people like James Holmes might not end up killing a bunch of people.
To the end of fighting against the stigma: I'm a loving father (of boy/girl twins and a great step-son) and loving husband; I love my parents and siblings; I love my friends; I'm a full-time employee who likes his co-workers and his boss and I pay my taxes; I take care of my two dogs and two cats and try to give them good lives; I try to help friends and family when I can with whatever is needed (moving, watching pets during vacations, listening when they have troubles, and so on); I donate to charity when I can (having twin babies is expensive... not a lot of extra cash right now); and I care about the world. I'm upset by the damage we're doing to our environment and upset that rich people are trying to claim fossil fuels are okay. I'm upset by wealth inequality. I'm upset by bigotry from misogyny to racism to the mistreatment of the LGBTQA community to the mistreatment of our veterans to the mistreatment of the poor. I try really hard to self-reflect and to change my views when I get information that contradicts what I believed, and I try really hard to be a good person...
And I had to make use of a therapist for years. For me it was stress related. My major symptom was incapacitating headaches that happened roughly once a week, and lesser headaches almost all the time. I had tried medications to see if they'd help, but they didn't. I had gone to an Ear-Nose-and-Throat doctor to see if it was a persistent sinus infection or something, but it wasn't. I had imaging done of my brain to see if I had cancer, but it wasn't that either. I finally decided to try therapy... and that worked. Having someone to talk to that wasn't part of my life... who would be unbiased... who could help me work through whatever was bothering me... who was being paid, but who at least seemed to care and possibly actually did care. Great guy. I really appreciate what he did for me. And to continue being honest, the only reason I stopped going was because life got so crazy. Having the twin babies turns out to be somewhat time consuming. Other parents know what I mean. And with all that time dedicated to responsibilities and no time to relax... I have more headaches again. Not as bad as before... but I'm definitely getting more headaches again. I'd like to have time to go back to therapy.
My mental health issue is definitely not as dangerous as James Holmes' issues are. But if he had sought help before the shooting and got help, I would have been impressed to hear his story. And at the same time, I would appreciate that he wouldn't be allowed to buy guns anymore. Hopefully, he would have understood that he shouldn't have access to guns.
Mandatory Training, Licensing, and Registration
I'm not sure how easy this would be to implement, but I would expect that the NRA should LOVE this one. The NRA already runs facilities all over the country that offer training... imagine if there was a government contract to run the required safety and skill training for gun ownership. I accept that there's no way to force this based on existing gun ownership, and being grandfathered in is fine. But, for new gun purchases, if you pass the background check, you get to take a gun safety and use course that the NRA gets to administer; you get your license; and the gun gets registered to you. That makes the gun your responsibility legally, which is a good thing, because then everyone else is legally responsible for their guns too. If the gun is used in the commission of a crime, there's a straight line back to the person who is legally responsible. How much more careful do you think other people will be with their guns? And if you are already careful, and don't sell your stuff to strangers... it doesn't affect you at all.
You might complain about the government then having a list of gun owners, and that if the government ever does become a fascist one that tries to take our guns away to prevent a rebellion... but... I'm going to tell you that that doesn't matter. Imagine the rebellion. Really. You have your gun. Who are you going to shoot? The police aren't your enemy. They're other citizens, and killing them would be a tragedy. And if you shoot at them, they're going to shoot at you, and you dying for no reason other than stupidity is also a tragedy. Are you going to shoot at soldiers if they're used on our soil to quell an uprising? Seriously? Do you think you stand a chance against military resources? And do you think it would any less tragic? And on top of that, do you think that even millions of people rising up and millions of people dying between our law enforcement agents, soldiers, rebel citizens, and innocent bystanders would solve the problem of the broken government?
A civil war here in the United States would be pointless and awful. The next thing to consider is that police and soldiers are citizens. If the president ordered them to take guns away from us, how many of them would be willing to follow those orders? Didn't they sign up in part to protect us... even from domestic enemies? The president would be the enemy. And my hope is that the leadership in the military and law enforcement agencies would not listen. Things would go to crap for a while... but a president willing to do fascist things is going to cause problems like that.
Anyway... the point is that if things get that bad, civilian firearms won't help. So, being registered won't cause you a problem. You can still own your guns and you can still shoot criminals that break into your home or that try to use deadly force on you.
Summary
Right now in the world, too many innocent people, including children at school, are dying because of gun violence. The current gun laws, law enforcement information sharing, and health care system are not doing a good enough job. There are things we can change that won't infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens, and which will have a good effect on reducing gun violence. And for our children, we should be yelling at our government to try these things instead of being afraid of the outlier politicians that want to do more drastic and ridiculous things. I completely agree that taking guns away is not feasible or a worthy goal. But something has to change. I'm not willing to accept that our children might be shot and killed at school. That's not okay. We have to change things.
Side Note: Arming Teachers
This is a horrifyingly stupid idea. I shouldn't need to say more than that, but there seem to be people who think it's a good idea. So, my brief counter to them...
Teachers are not soldiers. Many teachers are elderly. All the teachers I know spend a lot of their time not at the school still doing their jobs, like correcting papers; talking to parents; providing after school help; improving their skills on their subjects (taking classes to keep up to date); and basically spending more time than I do on my full-time job doing their job. So, if we change policy so that teachers should be armed, how do we convince the 70 year-old that they need to spend their money to buy a gun and ammunition (when they already spend their money for school supplies for our kids) as well as spending their time and money to learn to use a gun effectively?
And then how do we train those same teachers to deal with a combat situation? Do you really think a teacher is supposed to be able to handle an active shooting situation like a police officer or soldier? If you do, you're being ridiculous. And finally, where the shooters at schools tend to be students or graduated students... we're talking about asking teachers to shoot at kids that they probably know pretty well. That's awful. It's not some enemy soldier on a battlefield that you've never met. It's a kid that you possibly taught in class. A teacher at a school that helps children for their life work is expected to point a gun at a student with a gun and pull the trigger with the expectation of taking a life. I get that it's to protect other lives. And it's the right logical choice to make in that scenario. But there are soldiers in our military who have a hard time with shooting at anyone. And you want teachers who signed up to help kids to be ready for something not all of our soldiers are ready for?
One final thing to think about is that it doesn't address the problem. The problem is that kids willing to kill don't get help for their problem, and then get access to guns. For the first part, parents who are already stretched thin in this day and age of two-income houses being a necessity need to pay more attention to their kids. If something seems wrong... talk to your kid. Offer help. Do everything they can to help. And make sure guns are safely stored, most likely in a safe, but there are quick release locks so that the gun can be kept for home defense without it being something the kid can accidentally use. My dad also taught me about guns starting at age 6 or so. If you're going to keep guns in the house, you should teach your kids about how dangerous it can be to handle them poorly or irresponsibly, and take them to the range so they understand them, and so it isn't a taboo that they are very curious about.
The part about people who need help getting guns might not be from their parents though, and that's where gun laws can improve to keeps guns out of their hands. Alright... that's enough I think. If you are vehemently against changes to gun laws, I beg you to reconsider for your children and grandchildren, and because what needs to be done isn't nearly as bad you seem to think it is.
