The Music and Art of Kevin Michael Tillman

My favorite quote of the day: “How much respect does a hunter get for gunning for deer with a assault rifle with a 100 round clip? NONE.”
This isn’t about hunting. If you like going to the firing range, Super! I’m happy for you. In fact, I would love to go with my brother-in-law sometime and fire off some rounds. And there are great places to do that, even open air ranges designed for tourists to blow very large holes in junk cars with very big machine guns – SOUNDS LIKE FUN.
Here’s the deal. Those venues are great and they are controlled environments, they hold permits and licenses for what they do (if they don’t, well they should) and that is where a lot of rounds fired off at once can be safely used. However, outside of those places, clips that hold 5 rounds or less should be enough. Keep your assault rifles, just minimize the damage they can do at any given time. I’m only half-joking when I say, “Want to do more damage? Improve your aim!!”
Here’s what I propose – and I’m not the first. Have universal background checks. Want a gun? Then man up and take a psychiatric exam and a criminal background check. Get a qualification exam for the weapon, or class of weapons you want to use. Even our military has to do this, and they don’t own the weapons they use. Why? So they don’t end up killing themselves or their buddies (accept that as a gender-inclusive term “Buddy” please!) Finally, one cannot purchase a firearm without that documentation. Period. Not person to person, gun show, Wal-Mart. NOWHERE in the US.
I see these as common-sense issues. Notice that I never said “Take the guns away.” I just said “Make sure people know how to use the things properly and that they aren’t a risk to themselves or others.”
The second amendment has not been violated here. No one but you and your examiners will ever know why you passed or failed your examinations, and the psych examiners should observe the same privacy rules all doctors/counsellors do: They cannot discuss your condition unless you are currently a risk to yourself or others.
These requirements benefit everybody, including gun owners and their families. How many in-home accidental gun deaths have their been by simple misuse of a firearm, either while cleaning it, not properly stowing it or so many other senseless gun accidents? I’m not even talking about domestic violence or any of that.
Does this solve use of guns in violent crimes? No. But neither does arming everyone to the hilt. Americans still have that un-excisable “pioneer spirit” and too many of us think that we are living in the Old West. Want to act like a vigilante and take the law into your own hands? Don’t. Want to act like a cop, become one.
Stop throwing BS about the second amendment at me – if assault rifles are covered under the second amendment, then so are RPGs, 2mm machine guns, hand grenades, etc. (Grenades and other explosives are stills “Arms”) They all protect the citizens from a potential “run-away government.” Stop getting your scenarios from TV-armegedon shows and fear mongers. Y’all sound like you’ve been watching too many episodes of “Walking Dead!” – BTW the government blows up a large city in the first couple of episodes!