If I were writing a new gun control bill, I'd include the following: 1. Background checks for all firearms sales. I figured I'd get this one out of the way first since it's going to piss off my fellow firearm brethren. I think the NICS e-check system should be open to the public. It does not return nor validate any personal information. It would not be a security risk to open this system to the public. There could be mobile apps even, so you could run a check right from your smart phone. This is an FBI database already paid for by taxpayer money. Let's open it up. Enforcement of this would be fairly impossible without a gun registry. I'm not okay with that. However, if it's found that you sold a firearm to someone without running the background check and they were not legally able to purchase said firearm, you should be charged. If they committed a crime with said firearm, you should be charged as an accomplice to the crime. I believe this would keep a lot of firearms out of the wrong hands. 2. Mental health records from any taxpayer funded databases included in NICS e-check. The common denominator in the majority of the mass shootings is diagnosed mental instability. This cannot be left up to a person to answer honestly on a questionnaire. Veteran records, Social Security records, public health records, etc should all be a part of NICS. All mental health records should be submitted to NICS, and left up to the FBI whether said records should keep someone from owning a firearm. I'd recommend a panel of judges or such. Should you be disallowed firearm ownership for being on anti-depressants? Not necessarily. Shit happens. Should you be disallowed for a history of depression and aggression? Oh yeah. 3. No more gun free zones. They don't work, and nobody can honestly argue this one. The vast majority of mass shootings in the United States have happened in gun free zones. They're as useless as drug free zones. 4. Training, training, training. We encourage pregnant couples to take pregnancy classes. We force teens to take driving classes. My employer encourages me to take training every year. To obtain a CCW permit, we require basic handgun training. We require hunters education training for obtaining a hunting license. Why do we not at least encourage training for the ownership/purchase of sporting rifles and handguns? Ignorance is not bliss when firearms are involved. I received my first official firearm training in Boy Scouts using a .22 bolt-action rifle. The sad reality is that alone put me leaps and bounds above a large number of firearm owners. Training should be much more prevalent and encouraged, and possibly even required to take your firearm out in public. 5. Military veterans and active duty, along with retired police officers, should immediately be able to obtain a CCW permit without additional training. Some states have this already. It should be across the board. 6. CCW reciprocity agreement with all CCW states. The reality is most states require the same training and background checks. These states should all honor each others' CCW permits. For instance, as an OHIO CCW holder, I cannot conceal carry in Georgia. However, if I pay the fee and drop off the application in Pennsylvania with no additional training or requirements, I can then conceal carry in Georgia using the Pennsylvania CCW permit. Does that make any sense? My drivers license is good in all 50 states even though different states have different age requirements, driving test requirements, etc. My CCW, which all states require the same age and basically the same training, should certainly be honored. 7. Mandatory death penalty for murder. Period. No more prison sentences with chances of parole. Death. You willingly, maliciously take the life of someone else, you lose yours. Whether you use your fists, a knife, a gun, or whatever, it doesn't matter. Murder is murder. 8. Stiffer penalties for crimes committed with firearms is idiotic. Make the penalties stiffer across the board. Whether you mug someone at gunpoint or with a ball-point pen doesn't really matter. The crime was the same, the penalty should be the same. 9. Mass shooting equals public hanging. Just as it says. Bring back public hangings for those who commit these heinous crimes. I'm sure I'll come up with more. Please, give me your input and your suggestions. Gun owners, what would you be willing to concede in order to work together on logical, meaningful, useful gun legislation? What do you want to see? Gun opponents, what say you? Let's let this be a civil conversation.
