What is “reasonable” firearm legislation? I hear it all the time in conversations and find it in comments here on DKos. It's not unheard of to read something like this.
Look ,nobody is trying to take your guns away. I support the 2nd Amendment… But all rights have limits, you know? I mean, you can’t yell “Fire” in a crowded theater. I know The Supreme Court has ruled that you have an individual right to own a gun but they also said that right is subject to reasonable restrictions. But that is beside the point, I mean come on nobody really needs 3 or 4 hand guns and an assault rifle to hunt or for self defense do they? Combine that with the fact that people just snap all the time and when they do snap, having such easy access to firearms is only going to result in more mass shootings. So what we need are reasonable gun control laws.
So what are reasonable restrictions? Follow me after the jump and let’s first take a look at how the word reasonable is defined.
RKBA is a DKos group of second amendment supporters who also have progressive and liberal values. We don't think that being a liberal means one has to be anti-gun. Some of us are extreme in our second amendment views (no licensing, no restrictions on small arms) and some of us are more moderate (licensing, restrictions on small arms.) Moderate or extreme, we hold one common belief: more gun control equals lost elections. We don't want a repeat of 1994. We are an inclusive group: if you see the Second Amendment as safeguarding our right to keep and bear arms individually, then come join us in our conversation. If you are against the right to keep and bear arms, come join our conversation. We look forward to seeing you, as long as you engage in a civil discussion. RKBA stands for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
From Thefreedictionary.com.
Reasonable - suitable; just; proper; ordinary; fair; usual. The term reasonable is a generic and relative one and applies to that which is appropriate for a particular situation. In law, just, rational, appropriate, ordinary or usual in the circumstances.
From Dictionary.com
Reasonable - agreeable to reason or sound judgment, logical, areasonable choice for chairman, not exceeding the limit prescribed by reason, not excessive, reasonable terms, moderate, especially in price, not expensive, The coat was reasonable but not cheap, endowed with reason, capable of rational behavior, decision, etc. Showing reason or sound judgment, having the ability to reason, having modest or moderate expectations, not making unfair demands, moderate in price, not expensive
fair, average, reasonable weather, being in accordance with reason, fairness, duty, or prudence. Of an appropriate degree or kind, supported or justified by fact or circumstance reasonable belief that force was necessary for self defense
Lots of room for discussion there it seems. It also seems that what is reasonable for one person may not be reasonable for another.
A question we need to ask ourselves is; What is the purpose of gun legislation? I guess that depends on who you are. Some people might say that we need gun laws to reduce the number of gun related deaths we have each year. Others might say that we need gun laws to reduce the number of gun related murders we have each year. I would say we need gun legislation to reduce the number of violent acts committed by criminals with guns, three very different answers from three very different perspectives.
The mission statement of "The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence" says “We are devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.” Their goal; "Our goal is to protect you, your family and your community from gun deaths and injuries". Here we have another perspective which is very clear; they want to stop all gun violence. The thing is people are naturally imperfect, cannot be perfected and are going to err. This is a fact, therefore the only way to create an American that is free from gun violence is to create an America that is free from guns which, based on their mission statement is what the Brady Campaign wants. It is therefore axiomatic that much of the legislation they propose is with the view to making America gun free, and that is not reasonable. Question; can someone have common sense and be unreasonable? Nevertheless, to me, part of being reasonable is accepting the fact that as long as there are going to be guns there is going to be gun related violence and gun related deaths.
As an owner of multiple firearms and a proponent of the 2nd Amendment what I consider reasonable firearm legislation is probably going to differ from someone who doesn’t own any guns and considers the 2nd Amendment an anachronism. Again what is reasonable? One possible test of what reasonable firearm legislation might look like would be to apply the proposed law to our other rights. If restricting the 2nd Amendment in a particular manner makes sense, then check and see if it still makes sense when applied to the 1st or 5th or 14th. There is a part of me that likes this approach, I mean a right is a right and if it makes sense to restrict one it should make equal sense to restrict another in the same manner, but there is also a part of me that is a tad uncomfortable with this perspective.
As I stated above, I feel that the purpose of firearm legislation should be to reduce the number of violent acts committed by criminals with guns. For instance, I am not interested in trying to reduce the number of suicides via more stringent gun laws. If you want to work on reducing the number of suicides I think you would be better served focusing on educating people on the early warning signs of suicide and on better access to mental health care. The same sort of thing would apply to hunting accidents and other forms of what I would call negligent discharges. Legislation is not answer to these sorts of issues. Education and training in the form of hunter safety or gun safety are far more practical, effective and are by far the best controls for reducing these types of incidents.
I believe that it is common knowledge that the vast majority of violence and gun violence is committed by people who are no strangers to the criminal justice system and it is these people that I want to focus firearm legislation on. In my opinion, firearm legislation which only primarily affects the millions of firearm owners who don’t commit crimes is not reasonable.
I want to wrap this up because I am interested in what you consider to be reasonable firearm legislation. So very quickly other things I consider to be reasonable are; background checks but not for private sales, I am in favor of better enforcement of current laws which necessitates better communication between state and federal authorities, we need to end the failed war on drugs and legalize marijuana, violent felons should not be able to legally own or purchase a firearm, the same goes for those adjudicated as mentally unstable and those convicted of domestic abuse, I am interested in looking at those convicted of violent misdemeanors. A study by JAMA showed;
Our results indicate that denial of handgun purchase to violent misdemeanants is associated with a specific decrease in risk of arrest for new gun and/or violent crimes.
There are there other measures I am on board with, but right now I am more interested in what you think. Let the discussion begin.
Update: I am currently working overseas and my time zone is GMT+8 which means that I need to crash. Nevertheless enjoy yourselves and I will respond when I can. Cheers.