TKO Creations

I didn’t get terribly into details on Gun Control itself in an earlier post, because I wanted to focus on the larger picture beyond that one issue.  But it is true that gun control in America is an issue to be addressed, so here are my somewhat disjointed thoughts on that specific topic.

• Thoughts like this don’t help the discussion, and honestly miss the mark.  While yes… there certainly are regular people who absolutely abhor anything but completely unfettered access to firearms, they are an insignificant minority of human beings (and I use that term loosely to describe those maniacs).  Go to any corner of this nation, and I think you will discover that Americans in fact don’t think the killing of children is bearable.  Next to no one objects to authorities at the very least better enforcing the laws we currently have, and would at least tolerate any new laws or actions that fall short of the ATF busting down their doors and taking the guns they own.
• So what is the proper target for our anger?  The gun manufacturers who look at the deaths and the casualties and decide their profit margins that come from anyone and their mother being able to buy a gun are more important.  The National Rifle Association should really be called the National Firearm Manufacturers Association at this point, and it’s that political lobby that has perpetually stalled and misrepresented every attempt to stiffen the laws that allow access to firearms.
• I do believe we need to extend the liability laws when it pertains to gun usage.  If your weapon has been used in a crime, you should be able to held liable for the damage done with it.  Starting with civil litigation (paying out in the case of a wrongful death suit, for example) with repeat offenses leading to criminal charges (if your weapons keep winding up in the hands of criminals… at some point, you become the criminal).
• In the case of black market weapons that had no previous established owner, the gun manufacturer can and should be held liable for the damage done.  That hopefully would end the little Manufacture – Mexico – hop the border to the U.S. black market triangle that seems to conveniently happen to the benefit of gun manufacturers.
• Which leads to every weapon in the U.S. being required to be registered to whoever legally owns said weapon.  Some states already do this… but it should be a national requirement.  Carrying an unlicensed firearm should start small (a minor fine), to a misdemeanor offense for repeated violations.  Careful monitoring of who owns what weapon and when it changes hands is a good thing, it’s not a sign that the “gubbermint” is going to steal your guns.

Gun Control doesn’t equal a gun-free nation.  First of all, that would never happen.  But clearly there needs to be some degree of responsibility imposed on gun manufacturers and the public that buys them, because we quite clearly and evidently can’t police ourselves on this score.