Gun Permits

People are funny. In our society most everyone uses a car most everyday. 40,000 people are killed in motor vehicle accidents in the US every year. I have no idea how many are maimed and injured. But nobody makes much of a fuss about it, and we still go on using cars. One person gets shot by a gun and it makes the national news for weeks on end. I exaggerate, but you get the idea. (And yes, I know, the person was shot by a person using a gun, the gun didn't shoot someone by itself. Let's not quibble, all right?)

You need to take and pass a test in order to get a license to operate a motor vehicle. If the police catch you operating a motor vehicle without a license, they can throw you in jail. You have no inalienable right to operate a motor vehicle.

On the other hand, you don't need a license to buy a gun. You don't have to take a test, much less pass. The Bill Of Rights says you have the right to carry a gun.

Now we have the anti-gun people trying to ban guns, and the pro-gun people trying to ban the anti-gun people. It's a battle that's been going on for durn near as long as I can remember, and shows no signs of going away. I have to say I am on the side of the pro-gun people, though I can understand the anti-gun people. So I have an idea.

We should set up a voluntary training and certification system to train people how to safely handle and effectively use their firearms. People who complete the training and acquire the necessary skills would be issued a certificate, something like a drivers license. Now when you encounter an officer of the law, and you have a gun with you, you can show him (or her) your gun license. Hopefully this would give you some respectability and could reduce the tension that comes with encountering a stranger with a gun.

To keep the pro-gun people happy, the license would be issued by an NGO (Non Government Organization). The government would have no connection with it, and certainly no access to the records, so they couldn't use those records to round up all the gun owners, or just confiscate their guns. The NRA might be the obvious choice, but their historical position as opponents of the anti-gun people might drag too much baggage onto the stage. A new, independent organization would probably be the best bet. We might want a separate outfit in each state. In order for licenses issued by this organization to be respected, the outfit would need to be accredited, similar to the way schools and universities are accredited. I am not sure who you could find to do this.

Licenses would be much like a drivers license: credit card size so it will fit in your wallet, durable, hard to counterfeit, and it would give the holder's rating: something like novice, master, expert, professional. It might even list what guns they had mastered. Having a certificate like this could go a long way to making gun people seem more respectable and less like undisciplined yahoos.