{"id":11797,"date":"2015-10-09T11:28:14","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T15:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=11797"},"modified":"2015-10-09T15:50:47","modified_gmt":"2015-10-09T19:50:47","slug":"control-the-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=11797","title":{"rendered":"Control The Guns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"download\"<\/a>Why is it that anytime an incident occurs in the country that involves firearms someone or many someones will take advantage of the event to politicize the time-worn topic of gun control. It does not matter if it is a mass shooting or a tragic accident involving a child. Personally I think that most of the politicizing is not so much a persons concern for the tragedy as it is an opportunity to create a sound bite and name recognition. The problem is, gun control is an important topic and we as a people need to talk about it and we need to work it out. We need to find a way to decrease the tragedies caused by the proliferation of guns in the country while at the same time not trample on the rights of people to own a gun. The real question is, are we talking about gun control or controlling the guns.? That is a fine distinction between the two, but a distinction none the less.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When ever I talk to anyone who is advocating gun control, I asked them what they mean by gun control and what measures they feel could\u00a0be\u00a0\u00a0taken to implement gun control. It is at this point that I usually get a blank stare and then a fumbling of words trying to state their position. One person even went so far as to recommend taking the guns away from everyone except the military and the police. That sounds suspiciously like martial\u00a0law or a police state, so I would have to dismiss that recommendation out of hand. The most recent gun control concept just emerged today. It is reported that President Obama plans to make another end run around congress and implement some gun control concepts via executive order. As I understand it he plans on imposing new background-check requirements for buyers who buy weapons from high-volume gun dealers. and a requirement for dealers who sell over a prescribed amount of guns to have an ATF license. The latter will, of course, put the concept under the control of the politicians in Washington. That is never a good idea. Gun control means different things to different people. \u00a0Most are not really sure what gun control is. I guess the best way to say\u00a0it would be to apply Judge Potter Stewart’s concept of pornography, \u201cI will know it when I see it\u201d.<\/p>\n

I believe gun control should mean limiting access to guns by certain people based on criminal background, mental stability, and age. I think it should be easier for a person with law enforcement experience and training or a person with military experience and training to obtain a gun. That, of course, includes the restriction that these individuals are found to be free of mental instability or a criminal record. I believe that anytime a gun is transferred a record of that transaction should be kept in a database. The key words here are \u201cevery transfer\u201d including giving cousin Bobby your old shotgun to selling a target pistol at a gun and knife show. I believe that all gun ownership should be licensed and registered and the ownership information should be as readily available to Law enforcement as is ownership information of an automobile. Additionally I believe ballistics information should be available from every gun manufactured or imported into the United States. This ballistics information should be maintained in the gun ownership and registration database. Finally, I believe it should be a requirement, under penalty of the law, that all lost or stolen guns be reported to law enforcement. Additionally, criminal charges will be mandatory for any person caught with an unlicensed and unregistered gun. \u00a0Controls of this sort would certainly aid law enforcement in their fight to control gun violence such as we are experiencing here in Cincinnati and elsewhere in the nation.<\/p>\n

There will be, of course, pros and cons to implementing the above measures. It will become more difficult for a legitimate buyer to obtain a gun. It may take longer to get a gun and it will most likely increase the purchase price of a gun. It won’t keep guns out of the hands of criminals but it may increase the difficulty for a criminal to acquire a handgun. Obviously, if a handgun is stolen and the owner reports the theft, the stolen gun will still be in the possession of the thief. All of this will not bring about an end to gun violence in the United States. I don’t think that will ever happen. At most we can hope that the gun violence will decrease. One final point, the 2nd Amendment speaks of \u00a0 the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It provides that right to \u201cthe people\u201d, but not to a person. That is something to ponder upon.<\/p>\n

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?<\/p>\n

Feel free to comment, like, share, agree or disagree with this post. Please consider a free subscription. Options to like and subscribe can be found elsewhere on the page. Thank you for reading the Townehouse Blog.<\/p>\n

This material may be published, broadcast, or redistributed. In fact, I encourage it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is it that anytime an incident occurs in the country that involves firearms someone or many someones will take advantage of the event to politicize the time-worn topic of gun control. It does not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_daextrevo_audio_file_creation_date":"","_daextrevo_text_to_speech":"","_daextrevo_document_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,21,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-opinion","category-political"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/obama-750x400.jpg?fit=750%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12064,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=12064","url_meta":{"origin":11797,"position":0},"title":"It\u2019s Not the Guns!","author":"Tom Lind","date":"June 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Every time there is a mass shooting incident in this country I brace myself. I know what is coming and I know I am going to get upset. I try to prepare myself but all the preparations I make do not seem to help. In the end, I am still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/160619-orlando-vigil-ground_d11d4469eb01e1a719fc1d961083884a.nbcnews-fp-440-320.jpg?fit=880%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/160619-orlando-vigil-ground_d11d4469eb01e1a719fc1d961083884a.nbcnews-fp-440-320.jpg?fit=880%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/160619-orlando-vigil-ground_d11d4469eb01e1a719fc1d961083884a.nbcnews-fp-440-320.jpg?fit=880%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/160619-orlando-vigil-ground_d11d4469eb01e1a719fc1d961083884a.nbcnews-fp-440-320.jpg?fit=880%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":907,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=907","url_meta":{"origin":11797,"position":1},"title":"Out of Control Gun Control","author":"Tom Lind","date":"June 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently there has been an influx of witticisms by various groups and individuals who either do, or do not, support gun control. Mostly it has been a play on words using the over used clich\u00e9 \u201cguns don't kill people, people kill people\u201d. Actually, to put a fine point on it,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"maybe-93071869495_xlarge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/maybe-93071869495_xlarge-150x150.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11790,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=11790","url_meta":{"origin":11797,"position":2},"title":"Stupid Free Zones","author":"Tom Lind","date":"October 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again the country is reeling from the horror of yet another school shooting. This time on\u00a0a university in Oregon where ten were killed and seven more wounded in a killing spree by Chris Harper-Mercer at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. This despicable and cowardly act took place\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/download.jpg?fit=644%2C428&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/download.jpg?fit=644%2C428&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/download.jpg?fit=644%2C428&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":321,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=321","url_meta":{"origin":11797,"position":3},"title":"Teachers With Guns – The Sequel","author":"Tom Lind","date":"January 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"School should be a safe place. \u00a0Children should not be afraid to go to school, and we\u00a0should\u00a0not be afraid to send our children to school. \u00a0Last week's Blog Post, Teachers With Guns seems to have stirred a few emotions.\u00a0 The point of the article was to comment on our need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"Keep Our Children Safe","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/safe-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1252,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=1252","url_meta":{"origin":11797,"position":4},"title":"Stronger Gun Laws?","author":"Tom Lind","date":"January 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently a link to a website was circulated on Facebook that encouraged one to sign a pledge for stronger gun laws that would \u201ckeep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and save lives\u201d. This pledge means absolutely nothing. It has no substance and it has no purpose, other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"Opinion","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ohio_State_Seal,_1967.svg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Ohio_State_Seal_1967.svg_-148x150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":309,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=309","url_meta":{"origin":11797,"position":5},"title":"Teachers With Guns!","author":"Tom Lind","date":"December 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It is in the news. It is on our minds. We talk about it at work and we talk about it at home. And we are all so glad it did not happen to us. I am, of course, talking about random, unexplained violence, the most recent being the massacre\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"Teachers and Guns","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/images.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p38YRh-34h","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}