A Sane Approach to Gun Control

All rights have responsibilities. I have a right to free speech, but I have to keep that speech within the laws of libel and away from sedition and treason. I have the right to assemble, but not to assemble to commit a crime. And I have a right to own a gun, but not to overstep the boundaries of the society I live in.

Let me start by stating that I am both for and against gun control. Having almost been a victim of a crime involving a gun as well as having a gun pointed at me, I don't like cheap handguns or uncontrolled purchasing of a gun. But I have enjoyed shooting sports and love to target shoot. I am not a hunter but understand the need for hunting even if I don't see the fun in it.

The majority of gun owners that I know are sane, rational people who enjoy hunting, trap shooting, target or plinking. They might have a gun for personal or property protection. I see gun owners as one or more of the following:

1) Hunters, target shooters, plinkers, skeet - probably 90% of all gun owners. Most of these people are careful, respectful, safety minded people who enjoy what they do.

2) Collectors – they might be hunters and shooters as well, but represent another percentage. Usually collectors are interested in different types of guns.

3) Farm/Rural – protection from varmints and such. Not so much home protection (which they can be aware of) but more to protect their animals.

4) Home protection - Worried about someone breaking into their home

5) Personal Protection – This would include both the George Zimmerman's of the world (wanna be heroes) as well as people who might have to be in harms way such as late at night workers and women.

6) Criminals – need cheap, untraceable access to weapons.

7) survivalist/anti-government – Unfounded concern that the government will take their guns/rights/beliefs away.

The first five categories to me are the second amendment. And I strongly believe most of these gun owners are responsible people. They have gun locks and safes. They know how to keep children away from a hand gun for protection and know how to use their weapon safely. The personal protection issue is one that still bothers me, but in a discussion with a woman who had to be in a relatively bad neighborhood or just one that might be in the wrong place at the wrong time, some sort of personal protection seems reasonable. I reference George Zimmerman because I think of him as the poster child of the wanna-be hero. I do wonder about all those concealed carries where the gun owner is hoping someone will do something so they can take him out just like in the movies.

A criminal is obviously someone who shouldn't get access to any gun.  However, in the uncontrolled world of guns, a criminal can get a gun pretty quickly and pretty cheap.  And yet, people are more concerned about a government getting their guns than a criminal buying a gun for a hundred dollars.  Frankly, I would rather get the guns out the criminals hands than out of responsible people's hands.  Survivalists and anti-government people scare me because they do not believe in the country I live in and believe they are above or outside of laws that they feel don't apply to them. These people are no better than the criminals.

However, since most gun owners should be responsible owners, there are a few who do not. And unfortunately, guns have to regulated because of these irresponsible people.

I have a number of proposals that I think will help not be a burden to the responsible gun owners and will attempt to keep guns away from the criminal and the irresponsible.

However, gun ownership has a responsibility associated with it. And if a gun owner can not be responsible, then they can loose the right to have guns around them. The second amendment does not say everyone should be armed. On the other hand, I do not believe in restricting any gun. There are collectors that have or want to have an Uzi or AK-47 for their collections and to fire. I don't have a problem with that. As long as the owner has the necessary controls.

Related to Gun Ownership

1. Establish a national database of all firearms and magazines . There would be an electronic update from the gun shop/gun owner that would tie into the local police organizations as well as a national database.
2. Register all weapons, larger capacity magazines. There would be no gun show, private sale without notification to the national database. No one is interested in taking guns away from law-abiding, responsible gun owners, but , if you are irresponsible with the control of those guns, then those guns should be taken away since you are likely to hurt someone.
3. A 7 day waiting on all guns (except to dealers) and if the user doesn't want to wait, the police should be notified and a visit made to ask why. Even in a private sale or a gun show, a dealer would have to be involved to 'manage' the sale or trade.
4. You can only purchase a small number of weapons at one time. If you wish to purchase a number of guns (such as a gun range or purchasing a collection of guns), you need to prove why.
5. Mandatory reporting in near real time of weapons purchases to the local police who need to correlate these reports to see if anyone is purchasing many weapons.
6. No purchases with cash without permission from local police.
7. Mandatory trigger locks on all guns. You buy a gun, you buy a lock.
8. Liability insurance mandatory on all weapons
9. Mandatory immediate reporting of stolen weapons or ammo.
10. Microstamping of all guns and it would be illegal to remove or replace this microstamp without notification.
11. You must be a citizen of the US to purchase a gun in the US.

Mental Illness

1. If a person with mental health issues is released to the public, part of the evaluation has to be whether or not guns can be in the home or not. If the person is not see as not fit to be near guns, all guns must be removed from the home and area.
2. If the person moves, the authorities should follow up to make sure there are no guns in that home as well.
3. A black list should be maintained as to who may never buy a gun. Only via the courts can a name be removed.
4. The police, courts or a psychologist can request that no guns should be in the home through a court order.
5. The guns should be removed and stored in a recommended place, such as the police station, gun shop or range. Access to the guns has to be controlled.
6. The national data base will have access to people who can not have access to weapons for purchase etc.

Penalties for unsafe or illegal practices

1. Gun ownership is a right, but unsafe or illegal practices can have that right restricted.
2. Having weapons in a house that are not properly secured.
3. Allowing weapons in a house when the courts have viewed it unsafe
4. Selling guns without proper procedures
5. Dealers selling large number of guns unchecked or accepting cash without police verification can loose the right to have guns on the premises and to have guns in their homes of all the employees.

Life over Politics

It has been a while since I posted.  I'm still amazed at what people do in politics or why they think what they do.  And a number of issues have raised my hackles lately, but not enough to write a paragraph or more.  Also life does come before politics as it should.

What issues are really bothering me.

Affordable Care Act.  I think in a reasonable world, this is a no brainer.  People need to have access to health care.  In normal times, with decent employment, this is pretty easy to do.  Or rather in the old days it was.  You got a job, you got benefits, you had health insurance.  Now, with no job or a no-benefit job, it ain't happening.  I'm for it.  I'm against everyone trying to figure out how to make money off the suffering of old.

Presidential Elections.  Hey, I'm for President Obama, just for the record.  But Governor Romney couldn't impress me if he was a Democrat or an Independent.  He is very white bread.  Rich white bread.  Rich people can be president, that isn't the problem.  But I think the upper 1% really should wonder why.  Gov. Romney was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and can't figure out why people are complaining about jobs and money?  I think President Obama understands my life way better than Governor Romney.

Tea Party.  Why do I wish for the old Tea Party?  Back when it was guys in tri-corner hats and really cared about taxes and too big government.  

Neo-Conservatives.  I didn't like them when they ran the country under President Bush and I still don't.  I want them out of my house, out of the health of my wife, out of way of progress and more.

Liberals.  If I were elected to Congress (Hah), I would caucus with the democrats.  Why?  Because I might agree more than with the republicans.  That and the republicans would kick me out.  I happen to like Bernie Sanders, but I don't think he is a tried and true liberal, in the full sense of the word.  I don't want the government to coddle my kids or anyone's kids.  I don't want really big government telling me that I can't write left handed because it isn't good for people to do so and lowers the esteem of right handed children.  I want right sized government.  But I guess liberals and conservatives also think they want right sized government, except none of us agree.

Rising Gas Prices and Analysis of Why

The radical right has brought up gas prices and yup they are rising here. We are over $4.00 nearby. So putting my eye to the web to see what factors there are finds some interesting issues. One of the factors that the media downplays is the difference between winter gas and summer gas. So here are two sites that talk about the difference. All this leads me to 1) why does the EPA require these formulations and are they effective now with ethanol and MTBP and 2) why do gas refineries 'shut down' to change over and why isn't there enough winter gas on hand to make the transition smoother than it is. and finally 3) I wonder what effect speculators have on winter and summer gas knowing there is a potential 'shortage'
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http://ask.cars.com/2009/02/whats-the-difference-between-summerblend-gasoline-and-winterblend-gasoline-does-it-affect-my-cars-pe.html


http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/PICS/winterGas/winterGas.html

A good friend altered the image from the first link and added took the chart of gas prices over the last 6 years, and overlaid the chart of the Dow for the last 6 years (the dark green line). His information seems to support the notion that gas prices are being driven far more by speculators than by natural forces of supply and demand. So that is factor No. 2 to me. (thank you Mark)



It isn't clear how much speculators have affected the prices of gas, but Senator Bernie Sanders has looked into home heating oil for his state of Vermont and found that up to 40% of the price of a barrel of oil is based on speculation. Sanders Letter

Another factor I've run into is gas refinery space. When you look into the quantity of gas refinery space in the US, you find that there isn't a lot of extra capacity. One reason given has been the regulations, except a quote I saw indicates that between 1975 and 2001, only 1 permit had come to the federal government to build a refinery. Even during the go-go Reagan years. There is speculation that gas refiners are 'slowing capacity' and closing refineries in the US in order to maintain a higher gas price. Why spend millions to only lower prices and lower your profit margin. Also it appears that larger refiners are pushing out smaller refiners thereby condensing the capacity and consolidating it to fewer players.

As my friend Mark said "At some point, conservatives need to acknowledge that the "free market" has been taken captive in many cases, and decide if they really support free-market capitalism or if they're just going to be collaborators with the econ-terrorists who are holding it hostage." It is true, the difference between a free market and a collusion isn't very obvious to the consumer. The drill-baby-drill concept is great if you can take that oil and make gasoline out of it. The refineries are running at or near capacity, so adding more oil seems out of the question. So the drill-baby-drill concept means more oil on the global market and therefore sold to foreign countries.

In the end, it is never that simple as drill more or de-regulate the industry. Like most things in business, government only knows as much as it can ask. This is called regulation. In a true free-market system, someone should get the idea to expand gas production at a plant so as to put more gas on the market, or reduce the costs so that they can get more profits. But no one is because no one wants to upset the great deal they have.

My Radical Idea

I’m approaching the age where retirement comes up in conversation more and more. My wife would love to retire. She would like to do some traveling, relax and maybe get a part time job to get out of the house. The house is almost paid off and the kids are approaching being independent. She enjoys her job, but the commute, the hours, the stress get to her. So what stops us from retiring? Health Insurance. We literally could not afford to get it before Medicare kicks in. And that is a number of years away. And I’ve known other people who’ve said they are working because they can’t afford private insurance.
So my radical idea is this: by government action, a private or public health insurance be offered to people who are 55 to 65. This action would be managed so that anyone who is 55 can join. I’m calling it Pre-Medicare. The people who join would pay premiums to the system but they would be well under the current COBRA and private insurance plans for people at this age because of the pool size. This is a voluntary system, so if you are 55 and have access to insurance via work or some other means, you are not required to join.
So what is the radical idea? By offering this on a national level, many people 55 and older might be induced to retire early. In turn the jobs these people have would either be eliminated (and therefore save the company money) or replaced with younger people. So a high-level manager who is 58 would be replaced with a 40 year-old. That 40 year-olds job would be replaced with a 28 year-old and that job would be taken by a recent college grad. And frankly, the old job the grad left, such as Starbucks, could be taken by the recently retired person since they don’t need health insurance etc.
In the end, the workforce would be shifted downwards away from the current world, where companies have older employees that they would love to replace with younger people and the older employees would have a chance to retire at 55 with some kind of reduced retirement package.
The older people who are contemplating retirement are good workers. They have put in their time and see their kids not getting a good job and worry about it. I look at this as an adjustment in distribution because we are allowing the work force to redistribute. I don’t believe companies would lose critical people since this would be a voluntary operation, so companies can offer enticements to keep people that are needed. But in the end, the worker in the seat would be a little younger.

Holiday Giving

I know I blather on about subjects I probably don’t know enough about, but this holiday season, let me ask you to think about a couple of groups that I feel need more attention.

I’ve been associated with the Boy Scouts of America for 11 years as a leader. My youngest stepson attained his Eagle about five years ago and I’m still active in it. I’ve seen the impact on changing boys into young men. There is no program I know of that teaches boys how to be a leader. Not sports, music or academics. So if a scout comes by offering to sell a wreath, please consider buying from him. If a local troop is selling Christmas trees, again consider buying from them. If there is a pancake breakfast, go and have some and know that your money is going to help boys grow up to young men.

The other group is Shelterbox USA. As local as the Boy Scouts are, this is my global initiative. Almost silently, Shelterbox has gone into disaster sites and delivered shelter, warmth and dignity to the neediest people. They ask for nothing from the people and give a lot. However, that takes money to do so. They don’t have celebrities touting their good name, they don’t have an ad budget. So please consider a donation to their cause. I have a friend in Columbia right now working on setting up shelters for people caught in flooding. The news in the States doesn’t cover it, but we have people on the ground assisting in getting shelters up in a number of places.

I hope you would consider giving to Shelterbox. I have found it to be a very honorable organization that really only wants to help. If you do, please consider going here to give.

I am blessed to have a great wife, great friends, great kids and a pretty good life overall. I hope to continue our conversations in the future.

Happy Holidays to everyone all over the world
Rich

I am Your Parent’s Generation, but I Have Not Given Up Hope

I am 57 years old. I have no children of my own, but if situations had been different, my oldest would about 30 years old or so. About the median age of the Occupy Wall Street people. I recently read a response from a 31 year old veteran that he had lost faith in his parent’s generation in that they would make the world a better place. I am his parent’s generation.

In one way, I think he is right. We did him wrong. We had come from the idyllic world of the 50’s and 60’s and we had it so good. We had jobs and a great economy. We had world peace and the future was so bright. The land was pure and clean. And then in the past few years, we threw it all away, according to him. Well, that is BS.

My parents lived through the Second World War. My father served in the Navy. My parents were poor by anyone’s standards, but since they lived in rural areas, they had enough to eat, clothing, a roof and a school. My mother never finished college I think because of the war. My father went to college on the GI Bill. Both worked pretty hard to provide us with the same things they had, enough to eat, clothing, a roof and a school. We got the luxuries of a family vacation (in a car, no air conditioning), our own rooms (there were only my sister and I), a good Christmas and a rare dinner out. They tried to sheltered us from the bad things around us, but frankly no one could do that.

The article implied that we had it good and blew it. Yup, I remember the good times: Cuban Missile Crisis; the Cold War; West Berlin and Checkpoint Charlie; the Viet Nam War; the Oil Crisis of the 70’s; the recessions of the 80’s and 90’s, there may have been one in 00’s, but since I wasn’t working then, I may have missed it; and one that still sticks in my mind, President Kennedy’s assassination. I thought the world would end that day.

I remember walking down the street as a very little boy during the Cuban Missile Crisis wondering why my parents were so weirded out and I was looking for Russian Bombers over Peoria. I understood there was a target there. The TV was on, but I wasn’t allowed to watch it. It was just some talking head. I didn’t understand it, but I knew something was wrong.

I remember going to the Court House to sign up for the draft. The Viet Nam War was winding down, but they were still taking people with very low numbers. All it took was the wrong two ping pong balls coming up and my life would have to change rapidly. I didn’t have to. But I was lucky, I didn’t know anyone that went to Viet Nam, but I saw the obituaries in the local paper of older boys who wouldn’t come home. I knew some of their brothers and sisters. I met a lot of guys in college who had returned. Some with missing limbs. Some with their heads messed up. . I doubt anyone who went came back normal. I also remember the protests and took part in a few while in high school. My father didn’t want me too because he didn’t want to get in trouble with the college he taught at. I did anyway. I now understand his reason and position.

I remember the long lines of cars during the oil crisis in the 70’s. I couldn’t afford a new car, so you just drove a little less and tried to save fuel. It frankly occupied your mind as to how to survive. And of course, we worried that this was the start of another war in which I could be drafted. I think I had deferments, but all it took was a doctor to say, no, you’ll be fine and I could be 1-A.

I remember big layoffs in the 80’s and 90’s. I remember when they would lay off people and everyone was called in one at a time and told if you were still employed. I remember women coming out crying because they had been let go. I felt guilty that day.

I wasn’t very old when President Kennedy was killed. A kid in class who went home for lunch heard it and came back and told the class and the teacher. It was a Catholic school. The nuns were devastated. We were in shock. There was a part of me that died that day. President Kennedy was hope. He had big ideas. He wanted to make the world better. And they shot him.

Your parents went through the same thing. So they hovered, protected and tried to isolated you from the world. Maybe our generation should have let you see more of the bad stuff like we saw. Our parents tried to protect us because they had seen true evil. We should have let you develop the antibodies to the evil of the world we got. We didn’t . And by doing so, we allowed the evil to grow a little larger.

And now you think the world needs to change. It does. We wanted it to change so badly. But it doesn’t change easily. And it will not change overnight. This isn’t an after-school special where the bully learns to be friends in an hour. Your generation is giving up hope. I lived through enough stuff and I don’t give up hope. There will always be evil in the world. There will always be greed. There will always be sin. There will always be despair. My parents fought it the best they could. We fought it the best we could. And now you can fight it too. But you can not give up hope.

An Encounter - A short story

We stepped into the blackness. One moment we were in country on a search and destroy mission and the next we all stepped into a void. I remember that the jungle wrapped around me and I figured I was dead. It was a VC trap. Sarge had Boyd on point and he hadn’t said anything, then Sarge stepped in and the rest of us sort of followed. At first I figured it was just super heavy brush. But in one step, I could no longer see even the low lights we had. There was a bit of moon light before we stepped over, but now nothing. Sarge whispered to Boyd. “Where the hell are you?” I heard Boyd’s muffled voice saying “Here Sarge”. I followed it, since really I had nothing to guide me. I knew I was dead and this was how it was. At least I didn’t feel anything.

A few steps ahead, I saw something. I saw Boyd and Sarge crouched by a wall. There ain’t no walls like this in country. Maybe in the cities… Sarge motioned us forward and we took up positions around Sarge. “Where are we? This is a city, there ain’t a village within 20 clicks of us let alone a city.” The night air smelled different. I looked around and saw that somehow we were in a depression in a city like Siagon. Behind us, somehow was a long wall. But we just came from there. Sarge told us to keep our heads down. He saw some bushes over to our right and told us to stay low and follow him. We did and headed towards the only cover we saw.

The grass under our boots was cut. The ground was soft. The air smelled of flowers and food. American food. I could smell hamburgers cooking, I swear. The temperature was about 70 degrees, something I haven’t felt since I was home. And I also smelled a small squad of dirty Americans. For the first time in a while, I realized we reeked of sweat and dirt. We had been in-country for a few days only. We checked our perimeter and saw no one.

Then Sawyer piped up. “Sarge, look over there”. We looked where he was pointed and we saw, well we somehow saw an illusion. There is no way that was in Viet Nam. I didn’t do the drugs of choice and so I knew it wasn’t a hallucination. I shook my head a few times and kept looking at it. What the hell was the Washington Monument doing here? Sawyer started to shake. “Sarge, I’m from DC. This is DC man. How the…” Just then we heard a car rev up. We got flat and Sarge and I went over the small hill to look. Sarge turned to me and said “I have never seen that kind of car before. It wasn’t built like anything I’ve ever known. It must be food poisoning or something turned on all of us. We need to get out of here.”

We crawled back and Sarge got with Specs and tried the radio. Nothing but static. He tried a few times to get a chopper in so we could get the hell back to base or where ever, but no luck.

Then we saw two people walking through the trees talking and holding hands. Sawyer brought up his weapon and Sarge grabbed him and told him to hold fire.

“Hang tight”.

“OK, the best thing to do is to try and go back the way we came. If we can find the LZ and hold up, we should be able to get this through our systems and we can go back to base. I figured something went wrong with our rations or the water and we got a weird bug.”

We crawled back along the open area and under the fence. And we came to the wall. It was black and long. “Sarge, we must have come over it, right? I don’t remember falling”. As we got closer we saw it up close. Sawyer said, “I remember this part of DC. The Lincoln Memorial is right over there. The Washington Monument is there. The Reflecting Pool is right there and I don’t remember this being here.”

Sarge and I got close and saw the wall had etched names. We could see where we came through because of the dirt and stuff from our boots and clothing as we dragged the jungle with us. The jungle bits and dirt start right at the edge of the wall. I looked up and said, “Sawyer, what’s your first name?” “Steve, why?” “Your name is here in this wall. And…so is mine”.

Sarge stepped up and put his hand on the wall. It passed right through it. “I don’t understand this but I think we got some weird Nam bug. I think this is the way back”. He then just stepped into the wall like it wasn’t there. “Let’s go guys, I think it is time to go home”.