Yet, in the flourishing democracies with individual rights and a supposed lack of tyranny..... the disarmed citizenry and even law enforcement is stuck in the role of a literal sheep.
Confined without tools (note restrictions on simple pocketknives we use on a daily basis here, vs England as a prime example) unable to defend themselves, and with largely fangless law enforcement should a wolf arrive and behead one of their soldiers.... I would pity the population should a mumbai style event occur there. Never mind that they're likely to be charged themselves should they present any resistance to anyone who impresses force upon them in their own defense! Truly Free!
If you think Somalia is a NRA paradise, you should think again. While as a failed nation its laws go unenforced, it actually has firearms law that is on par with England's restrictions. Effectively all weapons in that nation are by law(while due to a defunct goverment, not effectively) national property.
Pointing to densely packed, socialistic in government, nations with land areas that are on par with maybe 2 US States and saying "it works there" is wearing rose colored glasses and ignoring all the social and economic differences between the countries. It's not powerpoint, you can't just copy-paste from something else and expect it to be remotely valid in execution.
Government does not secure our rights. Government gives us a path of recourse should our rights be infringed.
Government does not prevent:
- my shit being stolen
- being unlawfully detained by law enforcement
- being kidnapped
- being raped
- being assaulted
- my window having a brick through it
- etc etc etc
It only provides us with the letter of law that which will punitively punish those who committed the acts, and a civil court course of action for theoretical monetary reimbursement from the transgressing party to the aggrieved party.
Government, and their proxy Law enforcement, is REACTIVE. Period. How many murders does LE investigate? Know why they're investigating it? Because they don't know all the facts because THEY WERE NOT THERE.
You can see this fact specifically by researching the number of conspiracy charges placed against people/groups versus actual law violations. It's a feather versus a freight train.
The laws that are on the books now, as it sits, would work just fricking FINE if they were actually prosecuted. It's a crime to ATTEMPT to purchase a weapon when you are restricted from doing so, yet the ATF doesn't prosecute damn near any at all... and under the direction of our lovely government you seem to hold so high upon the pedestal, allows illicit guns to be purchased and moved beyond our borders and outside of their ability to track or control them so that our own law enforcement agents can be killed by them.
Yet there's a 6+ month backlog for people who have to pay an additional tax, submit a full set of fingerprints and photos, get signed off by local law enforcement that they are a normal sane person, and undergo a federal background check as well.... in order to buy a hearing protection device to mount on their firearms that also would end up reducing the annoyance to people who live nearby to firearms ranges (who usually move there AFTER the range has been well established for decades, and then start bitching about it)
Another argument brought up in this thread: Trying to say that a firearms sales establishment should do some sort of qualification with the weapon and person prior to sale or as condition of sale, is like saying that a dealership should do drivers ed. It's an inane argument. The shop that I worked at (albeit for an extremely short time due to issues with the management) did give a quick class of instruction encompassing the 4 rules of firearm safety, and basic operation of the system.
You want to decrease the amount of firearms accidents? Put it back in school. Don't make a modern TOOL such a mystical item that people inherently do stupid and unsafe things with them. That would severely reduce the amount of firearms accidents that occur, especially involving children. Even something as simple as the NRA Eddie Eagle "Don't touch, tell an adult" basic mantra is better firearms education than being totally naive. Some schools still do drivers ed, some unserviceable and filled bore/chamber M1903's from the CMP given to every school for training would literally cost shipping price from CMP to the schools, and be zero hazard to anyone in the class unlike when the DEA goes to do a show and tell.
Then, on top of that, bring school rifle teams BACK. You pointed at Switzerland as an example of what's right.... guess what they do. They have national holidays for marksmanship competitions. The rifle teams don't have to be mandatory, but it's a highly skill based task that we should hold in high regard rather than shun.
I mean, fuck, my daughter's FOUR and already knows not to touch the firearms. She helps sort the shotshells and magazines when we're doing monthly maintenance, though.. while supervised. I grew up with the entire family's rack of rifles in MY BEDROOM. I could clean/handle them any time I pleased, provided I asked one of my parents beforehand. I've never had a negligent discharge with ANY weapon system I have owned or been issued.
In short:
Enforce the current legislation that is already there
Educate the population as to operation of the tools, and legalities therein. We're teaching them about how to avoid things that can kill them or fuck them up for life (Sex education, drivers education) so why the fuck aren't we teaching them THERE about something that's just as common?
oh, that's right, it's an evil black rifle that only the government and military should have. But you can have a prius to drive through a peloton.
