SPECTRUM: Outdoors columnist shares his view on gun control

Both the mainstream and social media arenas have been buzzing for weeks about the need for stricter gun control laws in the wake of the recent Florida school shooting. I’ve listened to and read much of what is being said and I marvel at the lack of understanding, mostly on the anti-gun side, of real world solutions to this issue.

Whatever comes out of this debate will ultimately have a bearing on how I can continue as a federal firearms licensee in doing transfers and sales of firearms in Alaska. I hope whatever does come out of the discussion is a practical improvement and not just a knee-jerk reaction of the “we have to do something” mindset that seems so prevalent today.

The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. The Constitutional protection of our right to “keep and bear” a firearm is all about standing in defense of our person, our family, our community, and our nation in the event a serious threat presents itself. That’s the first commonly misunderstood idea on the anti-side.

Second, by legal definition, none of the firearms used in recent mass shootings are “assault rifles.” A real assault rifle is capable of fully automatic firing; as long as the trigger is held down, the weapon will fire. The rifles used in the Florida shooting and other recent tragedies are semi-automatic, that is, the trigger must be pulled each time to fire the weapon.

Ownership of true “assault rifles,” or machine guns if you will, has been strictly regulated by the federal government since 1934. Just because a rifle looks like a military firearm does not make it a military weapon.

In short, before a true discussion of some sort of “fix” can occur, folks need to understand exactly what is being debated, the laws already in place, and how well these 20,000-gun laws are being enforced.

Regarding the Florida shooting, there was a total breakdown in law enforcement protection, the mental health screening system, and the background check system. It’s been reported that four Broward County law enforcement officers waited outside while the shooting was ongoing inside the school. So much for trusting the “government” to protect you as the crime is happening! The shooter had been expelled from school for threatening and disruptive behavior. He had been reported to the FBI on multiple occasions. The local police had been called to his home a reported 39 times with no action taken.

Even after school councilors had recommended the shooter receive some sort of mental health treatment, nothing was done. And because of these failures, nothing was reported into the shooter’s record that would have prevented his passing of a federal background check when he bought the rifle used in the shooting. Yet, the media and others want to blame the gun used, not the person using it or failures of multiple government systems.

In one opinion column I read, the writer posed a thought-provoking question about this whole discussion. That question was, “Exactly what law could be passed that would have prevented this shooting?” If you’re honest with yourself, the answer would be, “ None.”