GUNS: Find common ground

The Carlson Chronicles column seems to advocate for a proactive involvement for gun safety training and licensing requirement for all new gun buyers. And we already know diametrically opposing state by state laws haven’t gone well for marriage or marijuana.

Can we agree on gun safety and licensing? Maybe even liability insurance policies required for firearms too? Or should taxpayers foot the bill for firearm misuse like they do now?

In my lifetime we have seen prima facie speed limits go away in Montana. We have seen auto insurance become mandatory. Why? Because car populations exploded. Was that so bad? Won’t peace officers shoot at you if you try to harm them with your vehicle?

I had to take gun safety class at the VFW 42 years ago in Spokane Valley to get my first hunting license. I remember to this day the story told by the instructor of how he caught his young son making homemade fireworks using black powder and the ass whooping that followed after the father ignited the youth’s device from a safe distance.

Know this: If the nation ever votes for gun regulations like we do presidents with planet-destroying nuclear arm launch codes, I don’t think it’s going to go well for the NRA and the gun lobby. Maybe it’s time to find common ground as a nation before the masses and the 99.4 percent of the country that doesn’t live in Idaho decide for us.?

MIKE RENO

Post Falls