Do we not already have a model for responsible gun ownership?
We are innately driven in a quest to nurture personal power as we aim to fulfill our individual possibilities in life. Discipline refines and transforms power to its finest and strongest potential. To have power and to choose to wield it for good is to unharness freedom. To hold power and not impose injustices on others is an act of self-liberation.
We are free to own firearms; our constitution ensures our citizens have the right to possess guns. That is part of the freedom package we inherit in our citizenship. That package will wither and wane if it is not empowered by disciplined, civil action that addresses the responsibilities integral to freedom and rights. It is time that we tend our freedoms. We are overdue to address the responsibility of gun ownership. We need to forge a disciplined program that enables us to own and possess firearms responsibly.
It is time we acknowledge the necessity of developing means of securing our firearms while, in parallel, building a mental health system that addresses the needs of those who can be averted from committing acts of undisciplined ruthless gun crimes upon our families and loved ones. These are not unrelated duties. These are responsibilities that are implied within the portfolios of freedoms that are ours.
We are free to choose: Create responsible gun ownership disciplines, or choose to let our freedom wither from fear and the compulsion of those focused solely on the right to possess guns above the well-being of all, with no regard for bearing the responsibility of that constitutionally guaranteed ownership.
I am one who became a Marine. I lived the training and discipline of the Marine Corps. The Corps taught us explicitly how to use firearms. When we were not using weapons, those weapons were secured and stowed. They were out of sight. They remained in armories where they were safe, and we were too. Not a bad idea. It works well for the foremost trained militia in the world. How can we translate that model for gun safety in ways that will work for the benefit of all in the private sector?
What can our Nation’s civilian population learn from our Marine Corps?