Before proceeding, please see two disclaimers:
1. I am utterly distressed that 18 years after shots rang out in my high school after I graduated, and my co-worker from my first job was killed in that high school shooting that this question came from my 6-year-old after the events in Uvalde, Texas:
"Why did those kids die?"
I don't know, Sweetheart, but I do know I have to help fix it.
2. I don't have any need for a gun. I don't see a need for a gun in my life. I will reject that violence will save us from violence. Anyone who owns a firearm should understand I've come a long way to surrendering my beliefs. I shouldn't have to do that, but every argument I form against weapons is met with zero compromises.
Here we go.
Second Amendment Solutions For a Nation Under Duress by Gun Culture*
Being federal oversight of legal gun ownership is barred, meaning the federal government cannot create a central database; let's understand why that's important. History and evidence from other nations have proved that primary weapons databases are easily corrupted and used against citizenry at a national level. The proposed ideas here are state rights, not federal.
Would this help solve the problem?
Your legal purchase of a firearm auto enrolls you in a local gun club. The club would not share registration with the national government. Your license depends on active participation in the said club because it fuels critical support pieces for the common good.
First, It creates a community where a would-be lone-wolf shooter can find the social life and community tied to responsible gun owners, instilling a civic responsibility to the common good instead of outcastness. Nearly every mass shooter identifies their alienation as a reason to kill other people. Having this structure also raises awareness of the people who retreat, who become unhinged, and that's where an actual red flag law becomes a potent tool to suspend ownership for a time without eliminating one's rights. We all know that Mass shooters are alienated individuals who find refuge in false narratives, so the required gun club participation would curb that root cause. Social evidence that their perceived persecutors are not an enemy to be slaughtered.
Secondly, it creates a local base of good guy gun owners to draw upon (a well-regulated militia, per the second amendment). Gun owners then know they're the private and common defense but not an urban army like those of Mexican cartels or those involved with trafficking humans and other contraband already present in the U.S. The gun club would be an accountability partner with your local law enforcement/ National Guard (To secure a free State). There would be skills and updated training as part of the club led by qualified safe leaders. Standards could be passed from state to state to make a basic national principle when exercising your second amendment rights without creating a national oversight of your private ownership. Licensure for certain levels of weaponry becomes a duty of the state; safe storage, training, and routine mental health screening are the responsibility of the local Gun Club run by citizens.
Now, couple this with guaranteed mental and medical care access. Guarantee education access, and you've revolutionized the gun culture from government fear to local pride. Government overreach to local solidarity. People, this is a democracy, not the lies sold by the extreme right-wing, the NRA, or left-wing extremists.
Additionally- Advocate spending the money to fortify schools. Don't build a new sports complex until you fund bulletproof doors and windows, secured access, and an armed Marshall (like on an airplane) to hide in plain sight. The Marshall cannot be a parent of a current student in the school for parental anguish superseding the safety of the rest of the student body. Now, that's taxpayer money well spent and focuses on security without burdening teachers with more.
No one's rights in this scenario are infringed, as far as I can tell, and it only fosters a better culture than the one we see today. It's not perfect, but it's my best thought per my political alignments.
My religious beliefs find lethal weaponry antithetical to the creed I profess each Sunday. Jesus is the only threat to violence, and some of my brothers and sisters in Christ need to remember that before developing a personal cache of lethal weapons. "Put your sword back in its place. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52)
So I have debated squarely from that perspective. I love that I don't live in a Theocratic society. Compromise with human safety needs to become our cultural focus. My (or your) children should not fear an unhinged person killing them in their classroom, only to be identified by DNA due to the gruesomeness of their death. That is the stuff that gives me nightmares, and the nightmares need to end.
I thank Brian Carroll (ASP Presidential candidate in 2020), who gave me these ideas to discern as a gateway to better gun culture.
Thanks for reading; now demand more from our elected representatives.
Peace, eventually.
-Matt