The Driver's License Non-Argument
The last few episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience, the idea that there should be licenses for owning guns just like we do for driver's licenses, has been floated by Joe or his guests. To me this is a good example of playing ball on their side of the field.
A license to own guns is just as much an affront to my liberty as is a driver's license! I'm not going to argue your ideas because they are based in illogical thinking. At 18, western culture has determined this is the age where you are an adult. That means, at 18 years of age you are thought to be completely capable of making your own decisions for better or worse. I would argue that once you've gone through puberty you are biologically an adult and should be treated as one, but I digress.
Yes, your brain isn't fully developed until you mature to 25 or so. So, fucking what? If you go out and purchase an AR-15 at 18 years old and don't learn how to use it, clean it, or anything else your going to fail. The same is true when your 25 and get a firearm and never learning how to use it. This is where your personal responsibility comes in. Even if you did nothing more than watch videos online or read Jeff Cooper's book, you still have some baseline of knowledge to build on. Driving is no different, you could learn how to do it pretty quickly. Modern vehicles almost idiot-proof some aspects of driving now anyways.
I shouldn't need a permission slip from the government to drive my vehicle around. The same for owning any kind of property! Bad things will always happen, you can't simply write one more law to prevent someone from performing a criminal act!
I don't see driver's licenses as an affront to liberty. Sure you're prohibited from doing something without the government's permission, but every time you get behind the wheel you're putting other people's lives in jeopardy. I'm not forced to deal with incompetent gun owners, who will more often than not jeopardize their own lives, but I'm always forced to deal with incompetent drivers and there's way too damn many of them. Now perhaps the DMV is not the most efficient way to issue licenses. Given how many idiots are on the road, I'd say they've done a pretty horrific job. Maybe car insurance companies would be better at screening out incompetent drivers since they would have a direct financial incentive to do so. Just a thought.
I do in the sense of most people are travelling freely, and not using their vehicles for commercial use. I would say that it is people's natural aversion to car crashes that keep them driving somewhat ok, than some vaporous "traffic laws". If insurance wasn't so regulated, there would be more good driver programs. Firearm training should be the next purchase after buying a gun. It just makes good sense to do it, and as always good ideas don't require force.