“An armed society is a polite society.” Owning a gun requires responsibility. It requires obeying the law and following safety protocols of use and storage. introduction to gun ownership laws. Handguns are generally well regulated with the requirement of a license and gun education certification. Assault weapons are usually useless for practical purposes and are banned in most states in the US. Shotguns and hunting rifles are practical firearms in rural areas of the country.
In the United States, legal ownership of a handgun requires an educational experience and testing along with applications for permit. Illegal ownership of guns is a major problem because those owners rarely have any idea of laws or legitimate reasons for using those guns.
Owning a gun isn’t just something one does like owning a car or a pencil. It’s a commitment to understanding the laws, how to care for the gun, how to store it properly, and a thorough understanding about why one has it.
A hunter, for example, might have several different types of rifles depending on which game he or she hunts. One doesn’t kill an ant with a sledgehammer or an elephant with a feather. It’s the same thing with firearms. Even bow hunters should carry some sort of gun for unexpected predators.
Owning a firearm for protection requires regular practice range experience, easy access to the owner and security from a child’s indiscriminate amusement. If a child or teen has to sneak behind the parents back to steal the parents’ gun(s), then the parents aren’t responsible enough to own one in the first place. It’s like anything else. One must teach their children right from wrong with the why and wherefore of it all.
If more people owned, carried and were trained thoroughly to use firearms, there would be fewer shooting sprees. I’m not saying that every person has the right personality for carrying a firearm or that teens should have any access to them, rather that some portion of any society (outside of state or government controlled groups) should carry and be educated on the use of firearms.
Entertainment purposes for owning a gun includes trap or clay shooting, cowboy action shooting events, and target practice. There’s only so much entertainment one can eke out of a Wii, xbox or paintball game. Sometimes a tangible experience will satisfy in these sports.
To support the view of no private legal ownership of guns for anyone in a society is foolish. Criminals always prevail and prosper in that kind of environment. The Swiss have had it right. We should follow their example.