Gun Ownership

Yesterday, I bought my first gun.

I came from a state where gun ownership was not so much outlawed as it was frowned upon and taxed so much that it was unofficially discouraged.  Sure, there were hunters in parts of the state, but that was about the extent of it.  Until the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a City of Chicago ordinance that banned concealed carry, the gangs and their illegal guns ruled the streets.  From what I understand, Springfield and Chicago are trying to craft a law that meets with the Seventh Circuit's concerns about protecting Second Amendment rights while at the same time making it as restrictive as possible for law abiding citizens to carry guns.  Talk about trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

I've always been intrigued by guns, mostly the military style guns, because of the amount of military history I read.  The last time I ever shot a firearm of any kind, prior to moving to our present state, was in Boy Scout camp when I shot a .22 rifle on a range when I was eleven-years-old.  Until I moved here, I hadn't even handled a weapon.

For personal reasons, Karen and I felt owning a gun for personal protection and for fun shooting on a shooting range would be worth the investment.  We looked online, went to a gun show, went to a gun shop were we shot a couple of guns on an indoor range monitored by experienced shooters and asked questions at every opportunity.  In fact, Karen got very frustrated with me because I took an overly cautious approach to my purchase, of which there is more anon.  But rather than buying the first firearm we saw, or getting the one that had the most potential to cause death and mayhem, we were responsible and took a mature approach to our purchases.

Karen ordered her gun over the weekend.  Yesterday I bought mine.  I have to take the appropriate steps in registering it with the police, which I tried to do yesterday immediately after I bought it, only to be told by our local police station that the county police and not the municipal police took registrations.  So now I have an unregistered pistol sitting at our home, without any ammunition.  The weapon will be registered with the police tomorrow morning.

My approval for the gun purchase took a matter of moments.  The application form asked a slew of questions regarding my criminal and mental health history.  It took my vital statistics to ensure that I wasn't some imposter.  Then the seller's agent called someone and recited the information I'd provided.  Shortly thereafter, I was approved for the purchase.

Does this make me a good risk to be a gun owner?  I think so, although I still need to take the class that tells me how to operate the weapon safely.  I intend to pore over the owner's manual and practice operating the gun without any ammunition until I feel sufficiently secure in using it.  Then there will be more practice.

What aggravated Karen so much was what she considered my dithering over the choice between a Glock and either a Ruger or a Smith & Wesson.  The Glock has only one safety, whereas the other two have multiple safeties.  I was told by more experienced gun owners that for novices, the Glock had a risk in that the safety system allowed for accidental misfires more than the other weapons.  When I'd bring up the Rugers and S&W's, I was told the safeties were redundant, but that in an emergency situation it could lead to a split-second delay that could be fatal.  In short, I was torn, knowing that my relative inexperience made the Glock, an otherwise admirable firearm, dangerous in my hands until I had more experience.  The last thing I wanted was for me to accidentally shoot Karen or one of the boys due to my ignorance.

In the end, price and native pride won out and the Ruger was my choice.  I'm not ruling out the Glock at some future date, but for now, I'm going to become proficient with the Ruger.  This will give Karen piece of mind and protect us in the event of an unlikely home invasion.

The point for others is this:  When one mounts the high horse of gun control advocacy, consider that not everyone purchasing a firearm is a rabid right-winger with trenchant disregard for safety.  Some of us consider safety above all other things and, like me, worry about it to the point of putting off the purchase. My vow is to learn how to operate the weapon safely and efficiently so as to avoid the possibility of misfires.  I want something that guarantees our family the chance of safety, and in the Ruger I have the tool.  Now I have to learn how to use it so as to maximize its utility.  The good operator, after all, doesn't blame his tools.

I am not mentally deficient.  I am not violent.  I am not a drinker.  I don't take drugs.  I abide the law for the most part, jaywalking and the occasional speeding episode aside.  It would be unfair to limit my Second Amendment rights simply because there are other unhinged people in this society who use weapons for evil means.  In fact, I should be encourage to exercise my Second Amendment rights specifically because there are unhinged people with access to weapons.

If there is something that needs to be addressed in the gun control debate, it is mental health, not the restriction of gun ownership for others.  My background check took all of ten to fifteen minutes.  I don't know at what databases the person at the other end of the phone was looking, but I'm hopeful he was able to cross-reference them to discern whether I was a mental health risk.

We've all heard the saying countless times before:  Guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people. Well, I suggest a tweak to that.  Guns don't kill people, but mentally challenged people often kill other people.  The federal, state and municipal governments need to find a work-around privacy laws to ensure that mentally -- and this includes emotionally -- challenged people do not own or operate firearms.

(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles