How many illegal gun manufacturers are there in the United States? None!

Whenever I hear some gun-crazed nut argue against better regulation of firearm sales by stating that there are numerous illegal firearm deaths per year, I just want to hit something. The fact of the matter is that almost every single gun out there started out legally. We don’t have illegal gun manufacturers here, but rather a system of loopholes and non-enforced legislation that allow criminals to easily get guns. Yet when we talk about closing things, like the guns how loophole, the NRA quickly starts their screaming and crying.

As many of you know, I am very much pro-second amendment. I firmly believe in our right to bear arms, which is why I am so strongly in favor of better regulation. It’s the only way I see of protecting our rights. Protect that right by ensuring that only responsible adults can enjoy it. The logic isn’t complex to follow or even out of left field. Every parent uses the same methods with their child. If a child’s grades go down because they spend too much time on the Xbox, then they loose their right to play that Xbox. It’s very simple and has been a practice long before our nation was even a thought.

But when it comes to guns, the entire argument of responsibility becomes synonymous with “taking away our rights” to people like the NRA. They fail to realize that enforcing responsibility is the best method available to protect the second amendment. With the increased frequency of these mass shootings, it is only a matter of time before America has had enough needless death and takes Draconian measures. 

So how do we legislate responsibility? Well it’s not all that complicated.

Illegal Firearms 

The NRA and their ilk would like you to believe that most of the guns used in things like gangland shootings are stolen, but that is a lie being pushed. Jay Wachtel is an ATF agent in charge of tracking these things. Frontline interviewed him and found this to be what happens:

In fact, there are a number of sources that allow guns to fall into the wrong hands, with gun thefts at the bottom of the list. Wachtel says one of the most common ways criminals get guns is through straw purchase sales. A straw purchase occurs when someone who may not legally acquire a firearm, or who wants to do so anonymously, has a companion buy it on their behalf. According to a 1994 ATF study on “Sources of Crime Guns in Southern California,” many straw purchases are conducted in an openly “suggestive” manner where two people walk into a gun store, one selects a firearm, and then the other uses identification for the purchase and pays for the gun. Or, several underage people walk into a store and an adult with them makes the purchases. Both of these are illegal activities.

The next biggest source of illegal gun transactions where criminals get guns are sales made by legally licensed but corrupt at-home and commercial gun dealers. Several recent reports back up Wachtel’s own studies about this, and make the case that illegal activity by those licensed to sell guns, known as Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs), is a huge source of crime guns and greatly surpasses the sale of guns stolen from John Q. Citizen. Like bank robbers, who are interested in banks, gun traffickers are interested in FFLs because that’s where the guns are. This is why FFLs are a large source of illegal guns for traffickers, who ultimately wind up selling the guns on the street.

So we have some simple fixes to go in here.

1. Close the gun show loopholes. If you buy a gun from anywhere, then the appropriate background checks must be made. This even includes the sale amongst individuals and can be handled by the local police and/or area courts.
2. Harsher penalties for illegally selling firearms. If a gun you sell illegally is used in a crime then you are charged as being complicit with that crime – period. If a gun is stolen from you and used, you are also charged, unless you have reported that gun stolen.
3. A national database of guns. Every gun made and sold has a paper trail. The NRA is deadset against this, but why? If you aren’t planning on using your gun for illegal purposes, then you have nothing to worry about. If you follow these new laws and report a gun stolen as soon as you notice it, then you have nothing to worry about. 

Just this past weekend there were 57 people shot in our country. Some with legal and some with illegal guns. If you don’t realize this is a problem, then you are a problem.

At Home Gun “Accidents”

This is a problem that continues to grow at an alarming rate, yet so few are willing to talk about it. I have found over a dozen stories of children being “accidentally” shot at home in the past week alone. Here’s one that really caught my eye:

A Jackson County man faces charges after his 6-year-old son shot his younger sister in the face Aug. 30 with a shotgun.

Authorities say 48-year-old Fred B. Maphis was negligent when he left the loaded firearm out and then told the boy to lie about accidentally shooting his 4-year-old sibling.

The girl suffered non-life-threatening injuries from the gunshot wounds to the side of her face and back and was taken to a La Crosse hospital for treatment. Her medical status was not known as of press time.

After almost three weeks they have decided to charge the father, but those charges are mostly due to the fact that the father tried to cover up what happened. If that wasn’t the case and if recent history is any indicator, the father would have most likely not faced charges because “he already paid the ultimate price for what happened.”

Bullshit!

When a child can easily get to a firearm it is not an accident, but rather a highly irresponsible gun owner. For that those parents must face the harshest penalties we can give. 

Between 2005 and 2010 there were 3,800 people killed in the U.S. by “accidental” shootings. That’s an average of 760 per year, and the number keeps growing at an alarming rate. Of those victims, 1,300 were under the age of 25 and 8% of the shooters were children under the age of 6. The terrorist organization, known as the NRA, doesn’t seem to think this is a problem. I’m sorry, but any child murdered is a problem.

And the really sad part is that we don’t know the true statistics here. The NRA has successfully lobbied Congress to prevent any decent statistical tracking of these “accidents”. Why is that? Because they don’t want Americans to know the truth. Instead the NRA would rather protect their big money interests at the cost of innocent lives. Again, they are terrorists with far more deaths on their hands than even al Qaeda. 

We need responsible gun owners legislation here. A requirement for safe handling training, that must be renewed, as well as harsh penalties for the unsafe storage of firearms. No more of this “they already paid a price” bullshit. Instead, if your child shoots someone or themselves with that gun you left laying around, then you are tried for murder. 

After Sandy Hook I called for a discussion by everyone. After Sandy Hook the NRA became more emboldened in their reckless beliefs. So we now need a discussion and legislation that the NRA and other like groups is not allowed to be part of. They have shown they not only don’t care about children dying, but that they use it to try and further their cause. It’s absolutely disgusting that any human being could use such horrid tragedy as an agenda mover, but they do. That strips them of their rights to be in this discussion.

Putting this all together, the NRA has also shown that they are full supporters of murder through their objection to try and decrease future problems. Don’t listen to them or me, but look at the facts. The NRA constantly says that more guns is the answer. Well the U.S. already has over 300 million firearms, that we know of, making us number one in the world. We also rank number 12 in firearm related deaths per capita, trailing behind places like Mexico and El Salvador. Let’s actually look at the contries that beat us out:

None of those countries compare to the U.S. in terms of society (except Canada, which I’ll get to). Most, if not all, are big drug countries with highly corrupt governments. So out of the countries I would consider comparable to ours, we are number one. 

Let’s take this comparison a little further, using our neighbor to the north. Canada falls to 31 on the list, with 2.38 deaths per 100,000. That’s close to 20% of what we have. Canada also allows their citizens to bear arms, but they do have much tougher regulations. 

Putting this all together and using the NRA argument of “more guns make us safer” is ridiculous. Going back to the Canada comparison, they rank 31 in gun-related deaths but only 13th in guns per citizen. They are much safer with much less guns.

So every argument put out by the NRA and many gun-nuts become invalidated at this point. Since they want to continue a push with false information, then their seat at our discussion table is automatically removed. 

Our nation can’t continue on it’s current path when it comes to any shootings, from accidental to mass. We need changes and we need to do it now, before public opinion gets to the point that we end up with very limited rights. In order for that to happen, the responsible gun rights advocates, including myself, need to start being heard. We need an organization that resembles the NRA of 30+ years ago, where gun control and safety was a top priority, not the flooding of our streets and support of criminals and murdering of children. Hopefully we are getting closer to the point where that can happen. If not, then gun rights will be greatly stripped and the only ones to blame for that will be the NRA and their ilk.