First, my disclaimer:

No, I am not “anti-gun”.

(Although, after the Newtown shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary and seeing the faces of those kids being escorted to safety, I was nearly there.)

I am not advocating for the complete and systematic outlawing of firearms in the United States.

I am, however, an advocate for establishing some critical regulation and controls over access to them and mandatory gun safety education/training.

No, I do not have a detailed plan or model in mind as to how this would work, exactly. Understandably, no plan is perfect or fool proof. But first, we as a nation have to be able to have a civil conversation about the status quo. It is not working.

Since Newtown there has been 74 SCHOOL shootings.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/11/us/school-shootings-cnn-number/

Remember right after the Newtown shooting — the pictures of off duty police and military that stood outside of various elementary who were “standing watch”? I certainly understand the sentiment. But where are they now?

Yes, I’ve seen all the memes about how criminals don’t obey the laws, so why bother with gun regulation. This is a typical straw-man argument. Not all criminals break all laws. Not all criminals are violent. Not all criminals use guns during the commission of their crimes. It is an exaggeration of the original premise designed to rule out the possibility of compromise. This is where we are at. Look at our political situation — it is all or nothing — just ask Eric Cantor.

I’m also tired of uneducated people throwing around the 2nd amendment as if everyone is an expert in constitutional law. This is actually a complex statement if you examine it closely:

“A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

How does that become “my god given right to bear arms”? Where is god even mentioned in the 2nd amendment? You also have to consider the time and place when it was written to interpret the language and context.

Consider District of Columbia v. Heller

“The Amendment’s text does justify a different limitation: the “right to keep and bear arms” protects only a right to possess and use firearms in connection with service in a state-organized militia. Had the Framers wished to expand the meaning of the phrase “bear arms” to encompass civilian possession and use, they could have done so by the addition of phrases such as “for the defense of themselves”.

Not to mention 18th century idiomatic meanings of the verbs “keep” and “bear” which is also mentioned in the above Supreme Court dissent, you should check it out sometime.

Do you really need a banana clip of 9,000 rounds hanging out of your semi automatic for hunting or home protection? (Hyperbole intended). Are you expecting a massive horde of Crips or Bloods to descend upon your home at any moment? Are you that bad of a shot, that you need the option to spray as much lead as you can?

Maybe you do need to protect yourself against a corrupt government or police state. I’m sure that your arsenal of weapons would be effective against laser guided and satellite technology, drones and other various military advances that our founding fathers never even dreamed of. Good luck with that.

The other argument is that more people are killed by automobiles in the US than by firearms so why bother. This is a great idea…it will help prevent population problems like in China. Let’s go ahead and stop researching cures for cancer while we’re at it, because after all…everyone has to die sometime right? I bet this guy thinks differently — http://www.newser.com/story/159029/man-accidentally-shoots-son-outside-gun-store.html

I do know that the conservative view of “protection” against these recent shooting sprees is to arm yourself.

Well, let’s take a look at the recent shooting that occurred in Las Vegas. All three victims were armed. Two were police officers, who were not only armed but trained in CQB. The other was a citizen who had a license to carry a concealed weapon and decided to be the hero. He never got a shot off. Maybe if everyone in walmart was armed, it would have been better. Because untrained citizens slinging lead in a grocery store couldn’t possibly have a bad outcome.

So let’s continue to sit on our hands and do nothing as we watch our schools…the places that should be safe and nurturing for our kids become Memorial sites for tragedies. God bless the USA.