My heart goes out to the victims of the series of shootings over the weekend. While I don't want to be the typical media person who uses events like these to capitalize on easy clicks, and shares, I do feel compelled to speak out because it's flooding media of all kinds. Personally, I think nothing can stop people from killing each other. We have done it since the beginning of time. There is no solution. There is only damage control. I'm pretty much in the middle on gun control issues.

I'm all for arming citizens so there are more people available in more locations who can fight back. However, there are WAY TOO MANY stupid people who own guns. We've seen it all over social media. People waving pistols around to show off and misfiring them. I think if you are going to own a gun, you must first complete a detailed firearms safety course. This in itself will keep a ton of people who shouldn't own guns, from getting one. The fact that people can just buy a gun is crazy to me. I grew up around them. My father was a police officer. I was taught proper safety my entire life. That doesn't mean everyone was though. I recently had to lecture a girl on social media about this very subject. She posted a pic of her holding the new weapon she had purchased, hammer cocked, finger on the trigger, pointed at the camera person. People were telling her left and right why that was unsafe and she did nothing but argue back with them about how it wasn't loaded. The more she talked, the more it became evident that she shouldn't own a gun.

Now background checks are good, but they can't screen for lack of knowledge on gun safety which leads to stupid accidents, deaths, and all of these create statistics that can be used against good gun owners. I'm all for background checks, but one thing we need to implement is extensive training before you can purchase a firearm. This by itself will detour a lot of people from even trying to buy a weapon...and more importantly, a lot of the people who just shouldn't own one in the first place.

Last, I think once you've completed the training and own a gun, you should be required to carry it. Unless, of course it's to a bar or something like that. At which point, we have a society where it's not just a bunch of idiots carrying guns who know nothing about them. We have created a situation where millions of citizens are not only owning guns, but they're properly trained to use them, and they're actually carrying them. Am I an expert? Absolutely not. This is just my opinion on the matter and I'm sure it has it's flaws. What do you think?

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