NRA MEMBER DISCUSSES TUCSON TRAGEDY

SPECIAL POST

Too often, when there is a shooting or tragedy involving a gun, the fingers of blame immediately point to those of us who legally own and operate guns.  Many of us are members of the NRA and/or other gun organizations and we are automatically assumed to be behind the misfortune in some sinister way.  The talk is always about that "nasty NRA," or the "ugly gun lobby."  I guess they spontaneously feel that anyone who owns a gun is a crook, murderer or terrorist. 

Very rarely, if ever, does a reporter or talking head come to a legal gun owner, a member of the NRA, to ask us how we feel about these terrible events.  What is our position?  Who is to blame?  How do we stop these things?  

Let's just start with the premise that from now on, guns are illegal.  Will that stop shootings?  No.  Thugs and mental cases will still have guns or access to them.  Then there are knives, baseball bats, slingshots and other weapons of convenience that can be used to inflict bodily harm or death.  The truth is that the crime rate goes down when gun ownership goes up.  

Every single one of us who is a member of the NRA, or who is otherwise a responsible gun owner, dreads the day when we might have to use our weapons for something other than hunting or target shooting.  Those of us who carry concealed weapons do so not with the hope that we will have the opportunity to use the gun and become a brave hero, but with the hope that the gun will never have to come out of the holster to save a life or stop a crime.  

So, what is the answer?  Well, we gun owners all agree that anyone who owns a gun should have the training in how to safely use it.  We sponsor shooting events and safety events designed to sharpen skills in gun safety and use.  We all look at the guy who uses a gun to commit a crime or who brandishes his gun whenever he gets ticked off about something as being someone who needs to be punished and their actions stopped.  While it is totally illegal for felons to have access to or own a gun, the majority of gun crimes are committed by felons.  

There comes a point when the restrictions you place upon gun ownership in order to reduce the possibility that a crook or terrorist or murderer or nut case might get a gun and use it in the commission of a crime, interfere with the rights of a legitimate, law-abiding gun owner.   You can make it illegal for a mentally deranged kook to have a gun, but that does not mean that the kook cannot get a gun and use it, and it does not mean that a legitimate gun owner won't suddenly go around the bend and and start shooting.  But, those general rules apply to knives and beer bottles, too.  

We are all sick about Tucson; there's not a one of us who is jumping for joy.  Yes, the guy should have been under psychiatric evaluation.  No, he should not have been able to purchase the Glock at a legal gun store but, given his mental state, he probably would have gotten one illegally anyway.  

I could be glib and suggest that all law-abiding citizens carry guns; if someone had been there with a weapon, they may have been able to shoot the guy before he killed and wounded so many people.  He may have thought twice about committing the crime if he knew, or had reason to suspect that he would be surrounded by gun toting citizens.  In fact, that is probably the real answer, but I don't suggest that everyone runs out and gets a gun, either; some people just can't handle the gun or the responsibility that goes with it.  

What we do need is better ways to identify potential problems and better ways to deal with them.  This applies not just to gun ownership, but to behavior in general, because we could be talking about a stabber or a karate expert or someone else who has "lost it."   If we encounter someone who brandishes a weapon, he should be reported.  If we suspect criminal activity, we should report it.  We have to stop "not getting involved" because the guy next door just might be a terrorist or kook and who is going to know unless we say something to the authorities?  

In closing, we gun owners are just as unhappy with these crimes as everyone else is.  We are not to blame for the events; society in general is, and the social fabric of our society has been worn thin by a multitude of factors.  So, we have to be alert and we have to get involved.