* * The gun debate rages on

One of the most interesting encounters during my recent run for the 7^th District Virginia House of Delegates came completely by surprise. After the two contestants for the nearby 12^th District, my opponent, and I were wrapping up our sole forum at the Blacksburg Town Council chamber auditorium, I was approached by an audience member. I hadn’t even left the stage.

During the forum, candidates answered a question about whether we’d make our NRA survey to the public. I said, “I didn’t fill it out. I’m not in favor of the NRA so I didn’t seek their endorsement.” I explained, or I tried to, that when I was growing up, the NRA was mostly a sportsman’s club, dedicated to gun safety and enjoyment. Now I felt it was a marketing arm of the weapons industry, resisting any regulation. I said, “I support the Second Amendment like most of us, but people seem to really be hung up on the ‘will not be infringed’ phrase while completely glossing over the ‘well-regulated militia’ phrase. The Second Amendment not only allows regulation, but it mandates it!”

The woman pointed her finger at me accusingly and said something like, I live 45 minutes from any law enforcement, and I need a gun to protect myself. It’ll be over my dead body when you take my gun away.

I figured I was unlikely to get her vote.

I’d been increasingly vocal over the years in my support of commonsense gun regulation. When the gun nuts come to festivals in and near Blacksburg, scene of one of the most horrific events of gun violence in the world, handing out stickers that say, “Guns save lives” it is the height of thoughtlessness and insensitivity. Guns save lives much the same way matches put out fires. Not only are mass shootings an American nightmare, not a day goes by when the news doesn’t mention another tragic gun death, often of children.

*          A fifteen year old honor student and majorette who performed with her high school band at a presidential inauguration was shot and killed in Chicago a week later while hanging out with friends.

*          A baby was fatally shot in his crib by his 2-year-old brother.

*          A 3-year-old who killed himself with a pistol temporarily hidden under a couch by his father.

*          A 12-year-old girl was killed by her brother whose finger slipped on a shotgun.

*          Recently a female Alabama fan killed another fan because the victim wasn’t upset enough about the Crimson Tide’s defeat to Auburn.

These are not accidents. These are the inevitable result of a citizenry too irresponsible and intransigent to stand up to the gun industry and its lobby.

In our nation’s founding years, we had a state system of militias. The founders knew that in order for these to be effective, they would need the right to own firearms. These militias formed the armies that fought the Civil War. But militias tend to be unruly and difficult to regulate, so by 1903 the Congress passed the Militia Act which formed these militias into what we now call the National Guard. The Supreme Court has since given militia rights to private citizens, but there is nothing that prevents regulation.

I have nothing against ownership; lots of my friends enjoy hunting and shooting. But like most Americans, I believe in commonsense regulation mandating that users be trained, tested, and registered, much like vehicle operators. I also believe the lethality should be limited, permitting ownership only of muskets, shotguns, and bolt-action rifles with no more than five bullets. If a hunter misses a deer with the first shot, he’s unlikely to hit it with the second! If he fails five times, he has no business owning a weapon in the first place. Weapons of war do not belong in the hands of private citizens.

The grandest problem I have with the ‘will not be infringed’ crowd is that they don’t have any solutions. Yes, improvements in mental health might help. But these people are mostly absent in meaningful conversations about improving mental health. And it’s not enough.

Our nation is statistically one of the worst in the developed world for gun violence. For example, we are 40 times more likely to be a victim of gun violence here than in Britain. We should all be ashamed and dedicated to committed efforts to solve this.

I’m sure my stand cost me votes. But the only thing worse than a politician taking an unpopular stand is backing away from his or her convictions to win votes.

I’m as proud of my country as the next guy, but I’m proudest when we work the fix the problems that vex us.