Is there a middle ground on gun rights? Every exercise of a right involves a balancing act between a person who has a right to do something, and one or more other people who have the right to be unaffected by and uninjured by the exercise of the right.
Too often the debate about gun ownership and violence fails to recognize the broad range of conflicting rights involved. More precisely, many advocates of one right do not recognize that any other rights exist.
More below the stigmata -
Very often the balancing of rights is easy. For example, most commercial transactions involve rights to own property that are balanced by exchanging items of equal value. It is so frequent and innocuous, that we don't realize we are exercising our rights when it happens.
Fortunately, most of what we own is not hazardous to ourselves or others, so the chance of interfering with or depriving the rights of others is very low when we use our property. The use of property which is minimally hazardous also generally occurs without impeding the rights of others, for example, a lawn mower, bicycle, snow shovel, or garden rake. Admittedly, there have been exceptions, though generally not resulting in death.
That is not the case with the arms contemplated in the 2nd Amendment. There were primarily two classes of personal arms in use at the time, swords and other edged weapons, and firearms of various kinds, including artillery. Spears and archery gear, and more medieval hand weapons, were available and sometimes also used by the militias of the day. All the arms contemplated in the 2nd Amendment were expected to be lethal. The current debates around the 2nd Amendment center around handheld firearms, and advocates of open carry seldom walk about with a sword or dagger on their belt or hauling a mortar or cannon.
Since the use of firearms is potentially lethal, we should engage in an open debate to determine the right balance of rights. Firearms have only one broad purpose, to kill people and animals. To be sure, some people use them to make holes in paper targets, stop signs, mail boxes, windows, passing vehicles and other objects. Those are just means of training to improve the ability to kill people and animals. And it is well known that firearms are not always totally lethal, sometimes only inflicting serious, lifelong bodily injury and property damage.
Any person with a gun in their possession has made the decision to kill an animal or another person, though they may not yet have determined when, where, and whom or what to kill. Possession of a gun is incontrovertible evidence of willingness to kill, though not evidence of immediate intention. Pointing a gun at a person is generally interpreted to demonstrate immediate intention to kill.
If we accept someone's right to own a gun, we accept their right to kill an animal or another person when they choose. Since a gun will kill anyone, we all have to consider that we may be the person killed. Their right to kill has to be balanced with our right to not be killed.
I believe the debate about gun ownership has to start with a debate about killing people. When we have settled the debate about the just reasons for killing, then we need to debate the means for ensuring that killings occur only for the reasons we have decided are just. While we have lots of laws relating to murder and manslaughter, we haven't settled the question of the best way to limit unjust killings. Since killing is such a drastic, irrreversible event, we should have a goal to ensure that the means we adopt will result in no killings.
I believe it would behoove us to run some controlled experiments to determine the method, or combination of methods, that will result in no gun killings, or at least no unjust gun killings. I believe unjust killings are not a public good, and not protected by the Constitution, beyond the guarantees of speedy trial and other due process protections outlined in the Constitution.
We have been running an uncontrolled experiment for over two centuries, and have ample evidence that our current methods are unable to prevent unjust gun killings. They have also not prevented serious public health problems arising from gun violence.
I believe we should test and validate the following methods, determine which are effective by themselves or in combination with other methods, and then adopt them as national policy and practice. I make no predictions about the efficacy of any of these methods, and do not claim that these are the only possible methods.
We could run these experiments at the county or zip code level, for a year or other statistically valid duration, with appropriate statistical sampling and controls, to build a reliable set of data upon which to conduct and compare other experiments and ultimately make decisions.
We clearly don't know what works. It may well be that some of these methods won't work, but we won't know that until we try. It's time to find out. Since we are the government, we are responsible.
training -
require all citizens to have training in the laws relating to just killing
require all citizens to have training in methods to avoid unjust killing
require all citizens to have training in the use of firearms in stressful situations to avoid unjust killing
require all citizens to attend memorial services for persons who have been unjustly killed
reporting -
establish easy methods for citizens to report unjust killings, and their observation of actions that may lead to unjust killings
maintain statistics relating to unjust killings, including the type of firearm or other method used
gun registration -
register all firearms
register only firearms that have a trigger size that can be manipulated by a person two years old or older
register only firearms that have a trigger pull exceeding 20 footpounds
register only firearms that have a trigger pull less than 20 footpounds
register only firearms that have a muzzle velocity that can propel a bullet or shot with sufficient force to kill a human
register only firearms that are capable of firing a bullet or shot of sufficient size, density, and weight to kill a human
register only firearms of .38 caliber (each other caliber could be a separate experiment)
gun commerce -
register purchases of firearms, including by individuals and businesses
register purchases of firearms by businesses
register purchases of firearms by individuals
register each seller of a firearm at the time of sale
register each sale of a firearm on Monday (each other day would be a separate experiment)
register each sale of a firearm during daylight hours
register each sale of a firearm at night
register each sale of a firearm during the full moon (other celestial events could be separate experiments)
register each sale of a firearm during a three-day weekend (other calendar or social events could be separate experiments)
ownership limits -
require firearm ownership by all currently employed law enforcement officers and firefighters, and impound firearms owned by persons in all other job categories
require firearm ownership by all currently employed teachers, principals, tutors and professors, and impound firearms owned by persons in all other job categories
require firearm ownership by all currently employed bus, livery, and taxi drivers, airline pilots and railroad operators, and impound firearms owned by persons in all other job categories
require firearm ownership by all currently employed librarians, court clerks, archivists, and museum employees and impound firearms owned by persons in all other job categories
require firearm ownership by all currently employed nurses, doctors, and pharmacists, and impound firearms owned by persons in all other job categories
require firearm ownership by all currently employed priests, rabbis, ministers, imams, monks, and nuns, and impound firearms owned by persons in all other job categories
require firearm ownership by all currently employed bartenders, waiters and waitresses, liquor and convenience store employees, and pizza and other food delivery drivers, and impound firearms owned by persons in all other job categories
firearm owner identification -
require all firearm owners to be active members of the State regular militia and to participate in monthly militia training, drills and similar activities
require all firearm owners to be active members of the State irregular militia and to participate in quarterly militia training, drills and similar activities
require all firearms to have an identification microchip (similar to microchips used in pets) to maintain a record of each person who has been an owner of the firearm, and require the chip to be updated each time the firearm changes ownership
Require all firearm owners to be deputized by the local sheriff or chief of police and to participate in monthly law enforcement training, drills and similar activities
require all firearms to have owner-recognition technology which prevents firing by non-owners
require all firearms to have owner-recognition technology which prevents loading ammunition by non-owners
Require all firearms owners to provide a DNA sample to the local clerk of court
Firearm owner screening and authorization -
Require all firearms owners to periodically report for random drug screening
require all firearms owners to be annually interviewed and screened by the local sheriff or chief of police and justify their possession of a firearm, with the screener to assume concurrent civil liability for a subsequent unjust killing by the screened person they approved
require all firearms owners to be screened by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and justify their possession of a firearm, with the screener to assume concurrent civil liability for a subsequent unjust killing by the screened person they approved
require all firearms owners to be screened by a local justice of the peace and justify their possession of a firearm, with the screener to assume concurrent civil liability for a subsequent unjust killing by the screened person they approved
require all firearms owners to be screened by the elected leaders of the PTA of a local elementary school and justify their possession of a firearm, with the screener to assume concurrent civil liability for a subsequent unjust killing by the screened person they approved
require all firearms owners to be screened by a local priest, rabbi, minister, imam, monk, or nun, and justify their possession of a firearm, with the screener to assume concurrent civil liability for a subsequent unjust killing by the screened person
require all firearms owners to be screened by a bartender, waiter, waitress, or pizza or other food delivery driver, and justify their possession of a firearm, with the screener to assume concurrent civil liability for a subsequent unjust killing by the screened person
(this set of experiments could be applied to other job categories)
indemnification -
require all medical insurance policies to cover medical treatment for firearms injuries
require all first responders and hospitals to promptly treat firearms injuries without preliminary inquiries about ability to pay
require all owners of firearms to have liability insurance covering the use of the firearm by any person
require all firearm owners to have liability insurance covering only their use of the firearm
require all firearm owners to have liability insurance covering use of the firearm by themselves and any member of their family or resident of their domicile
require all firearm owners to have liability insurance covering use of the firearm in January (each other month could be a separate experiment)
require all firearm owners who are between 12 and 52 years of age to have liability insurance covering the use of the firearm by any person
require all firearm owners to post $1,000,000 bond with the State district court to guarantee they will not kill unjustly (other experiments could use different amounts of bond)
firearm owner notification -
require all firearms owners to notify in writing all managers, supervisors, coworkers and subordinates at their place of employment that they are in possession of a gun prior to bringing it to the workplace
require all firearms owners to notify in writing all religious officials and members of the congregation at their place of worship that they are in possession of a gun prior to bringing it to the place of worship
require all firearms owners to notify in writing all landlords, roommates, dorm residents, domestic partner, spouse, siblings, parents, and other residents and owners of their domicile that they are in possession of a gun prior to bringing it to the domicile
require all firearms owners to notify in writing all owners and employees of a tavern, liquor or convenience store that they are in possession of a gun prior to bringing it to the store
firearm access -
require all firearms to be stored in a locked container in the owner's domicile
require all firearms to be stored in a locked container in the owner's workplace
require all firearms to be stored in a locked container in the local police or sheriffs' office
require all firearms to be stored in a locked container in the bank deposit box
require all firearms to be stored in a locked container in a licensed storage facility
require all firearms to be locked with a trigger lock