This must be someone taking the piss, but I so want it to be a real thing because I cannot see...

[PirateRo]

7. The good news is the gun's pointed in a better direction

I hope that should we find an artifact from some alien civilization that we’ve had enough forethought to ensure our filtering techniques have the right sort of person in place. We can’t afford to suffers fools like these.

You know, back in the age of tradesman guilds, you could tell the quality of the craftspersons by the skill expressed in the making of the toolbox. It was a point of pride and a matter of honor, a calling card of sorts, a form of advertising highlighting cleverness and skill.

When I was a kid, I remember my barber telling me a story of how women in Italy would not look twice at the man who could not play aa musical instrument with skill. He lamented how this seemed no longer a requirement. He observed that all you needed was a boom box and lamented the only skill required was to push a button. He played a killer accordion himself.

This whole gun thing is nothing like that. There are some hunters, ok, some marks persons, ok, but mostly not. The claim is personal protection but they already live in a peaceful situation, surrounded by a variety of law enforcement and military agencies. The claim is protection against government, but this is a government of elected representatives. Electing better representatives is a real choice to actualize a better future.

So that leaves a marketing program selling fear and bravado. It requires little skill to pull a trigger, like it requires little skill to operate a boom box. It cannot compare at all to the kind of skills required to build. It does exhibit exactly the temperament we cannot have on the other end of the weapon. It highlights we need better enforcement, better laws and a hell of a lot more education. I think it starts with a detailed study approved by Congress. I believe the NEA abdicated it’s place to lead these efforts long ago leaving us with a need for better agency.

I’m not saying to get rid of the Second. I’m saying there needs to be certified programs for training and licensing and detailed laws governing acceptable actions and consequences and a big gap to cross psychologically.