First of all, Donnie Herman’s wife, Melinda, deserves praise
for the courage she displayed in protecting her two children from an intruder
with her husband’s .38 revolver. Herman
talked his wife through the incident while also talking to a 911 operator. The intruder had a crowbar and was breaking
through doors in the house obviously planning to do harm to anyone he
encountered. Until two weeks prior,
Melinda had never fired a gun when Donnie took her shooting because he thought
she should be familiar with the family’s gun.
“If he opens up the door, you shoot him!
You understand? Donnie said.
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The only way to safely own a gun |
I can’t drive my car without a license that I can get only
if I have had sufficient training to properly operate the vehicle. It is beyond me how they can allow an
individual to own a gun without the necessary training to use it. I did a post back in May, “Gun deaths versus car crash fatalities…who wins?” revealing
from a report that gun deaths outpaced motor
vehicle deaths in 10 states. A car is
designed to provide transportation from one place to another. A gun
is designed to kill. The Hermans
have two guns in their home but it isn’t clear whether that is a benefit or an obstacle
to their safety.
The CNN article on this issue
states, "It's more common for an armed homeowner in the United States to
be a victim of suicide, homicide, assault or an accidental shooting than it is
for that person to shoot an intruder," according to Dr. Arthur Kellermann,
a senior health policy analyst at Rand Corporation, a non-partisan think tank. And many experts agree, contrary to being a
protection to their safety, crowds of people rush out to purchase a gun but
never properly learn how to use it. The
FBI conducted about 2.8 million checks for gun purchases this past December, a
record high for a month.
Wacky Wayne LaPierre’s National Rifle Assn. (NRA) strongly
opposes requiring any firearms training connected to obtaining a concealed
carry permit. As an example, the NRA
objected to a requirement of only four hours training for a concealed carry
permit in Wisconsin. There is no doubt
why gun control advocates just shake their heads at this kind of ignorance and
complete disregard for the rights of those who don’t want to die in gun
violence. Unfortunately, some of this
group reacts with apathy and the attitude that it only happens to others, not
them.
As far as I can determine, only 3
states require any firearms training in connection with owning a gun. They are the District of Columbia, Maryland
and Ohio.
ThinkProgress spoke with a number of NRA members at their St. Louis convention last April and found that many supported gun safety training to acquire a concealed carry permit. I agree with this, although I think the CC permit itself should come with restrictions based on need. But let’s be honest, wouldn’t it be a safer America if everyone who owns a gun was forced to learn how to use it? Remember, there are 300 million firearms on the streets of the United States. How many owners are trained on how to use them? My guess is a very sparse number.