Gun control has been in the news a great deal lately. I wanted to take a look at the proposals intended to curb gun violence across the country.

Fix the NICS

NICS is the acronym for National Instant Background Check System. One area of this system that I believe needs to be looked at more critically centers around those with mental health issues. From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services there is a rule, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) covering the reporting of mental health issues to the NICS. According to this rule persons that can be reported to NICS (eliminating their ability to legally purchase a firearm) are

individuals who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution; found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity; or otherwise have been determined by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority to be a danger to themselves or others or to lack the mental capacity to contract or manage their own affairs, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease

What this means is that a person can go to a therapist and admit that they are thinking of commiting a murder or mass shooting and it isn't reported to the NICS due to HIPPA protection. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) indicates that most states do have "Duty to Warn" laws for mental health therapists if they find a patient is found to be a danger. This duty to warn requires the the therapist to alert the police or a threatened individual, this is a long way from getting the dangerous patients name into the NICS.

Extend Background Checks

This proposal seeks to extend the requirement of background checks to internet sales and gun shows. The Manchin-Toomey Bill to expand background checks to include these venues was first introduced in 2013. The bill has been voted on twice, failing both times.

Banning Assault Rifles/High Capacity Magazines

Many gun enthusiast enjoy shooting assault rifles. By far the vast majority of those people have never shot at another person. For them it's a form of entertainment. If we are going to start banning forms of entertainment, I've got a number of items I'd like to get on that list.

Banning high capacity magazines would be a waste of time, it wouldn't bother me, but it would be a waste of time. Anyone who shoots a gun with a clip on a regular basis can have an empty clip ejected and a new one loaded in less than 5 seconds, with a little practice they could probably get it down to 2 to 3 seconds. Clips are readily available for purchase, so it's not uncommon for someone to have several clips for a single weapon.

Raise the Age Limit on Rifle Purchases

The first time I heard this one was from a teenager after the last round of protest to force the government to make new laws to reduce gun violence. When I saw this I wondered if he had any other rights or privileges he may want to give away, maybe the privilege of having a driver's license or maybe the right to vote?

I am not against this. In fact, I'd really go for a law that increased the age to 21 for buying a rifle, driving, and voting.

My Thoughts

In rural areas of the country many young people grow up hunting, and this should not be infringed upon. I grew up hunting with both my parents and one of my grandfathers and would not want to take those memories away from anyone growing up today. I actually started 'hunting' when I was too young to carry a gun, 7 or 8, just following behind as we squirrel hunted in the woods. Around 10, I was taught to shoot and allowed to carry a .22 rifle and have been shooting guns ever since.

The main reason I believe these, and any other ideas that may be put into law, will at best only help slightly or have no impact at all is human nature. Between 1920 and 1933 the U.S. had prohibition making it illegal to produce, transport, and sale alcoholic drinks, it didn't work. We could pass a law now making teenage sex illegal, and it wouldn't work.

Why? Human nature. People that drink alcohol are going to get a drink from somewhere, teenagers are going to be teenagers, and criminals are going to be criminals. If someone is going to commit a single murder or a mass shooting, it really doesn't make sense that they change their plans because they can't legally purchase a gun. To assume that someone is going to commit a crime that could end them up in jail for the rest of their life due to a law that in comparison would result in a slap on the wrist is naive at best. Stupid is probably a better word for it. An illegal gun market will always be available for criminals or want to be criminals to purchase guns illegally.

I am totally against this, but the fact is that every gun could be confiscated from people that obey the law and there would still be gun violence. Taking guns away from or making it harder to buy a gun for good people only plays into the hands of the bad guys. Afterall, now you have done part of their work for them, you took defensive weapons away from their victims.