Guns, Guns, Guns

Tuesday is the day Vice-President Biden's task force is scheduled to make gun control recommendations to the President. Over the past few weeks, the Vice-President has met with representatives from the gun lobby, representatives from anti-gun groups, and leaders from the entertainment and video game industries.

In the meantime, gun sales are booming.

This weekend, the New York Times published an article describing picked-over gun stores with lines of people five deep waiting to stockpile ammunition “If I had 1,000 AR-15s I could sell them in a week,” said Jack Smith, an independent gun dealer in Des Moines, referring to the popular style of semiautomatic rifle that drew national attention after Adam Lanza used one to kill 20 children and 6 adults at a Newtown school."

On Friday, the Boston Globe ran a column describing a mother and her struggles to find mental health care for her young son. She had gone through a list of sixty-six providers before she found mental health care provider for her son. The piece ended with a great line by Kevin Cullen: "If the mother of that 7-year-old boy wanted to find a Glock instead of a therapist, she wouldn’t have to go to 66 gun stores."

Something is definitely wrong when Americans find it easier to buy assault rifles than get a doctor's appointment.

Am I arguing for a wholesale ban of guns? No.

One popular argument made by gun enthusiasts is that criminals commit crimes, not guns. The vast majority of gun owners, they say, are law-abiding citizens. This is a good point. But it still doesn't change the fact that guns are too easily accessible for those who shouldn't have them.

As I see it, there are three major questions to focus on:

1. How do we keep guns away from some people (criminals and the unstable)and not others?
2. How do we eliminate assault-style weaponry for those who don't need such firepower?
3. How do we fix what is obviously a failed system for delivering mental health services?

The first part of the answer is more police officers, as long as they are focused on preventative measures and not reactive law enforcement only. Imagine if police departments were staffed enough to conduct home visits and interviews with every member of a household where guns are to be stored? How do we pay for it? Build it into the cost of owning a gun and be done with it. This takes care of problem 1.

The second question, what to do with assault rifles, is simple. Eliminate them entirely. Average citizens do not need machine guns. Here is where the military could help out by offering an exchange program. Turn in your assault rifle for a less rapid-fire weapon, something suitable for protection but not warfare.

As for the problems inherent in our mental health system, this problem is too complex for one-size-fits-all solution. But there is something we could do in the interim to at least provide a bit of protection. Why not require a sign-off from your primary care physician as part of the application for a gun license?

None of these ideas are perfect (or original), but I think they're a good start.