I wrote my thoughts on this issue in 2000 after hearing Republican Incumbent Steve Chabot and Democrat John Cranley support the positions of their parties, which have still not changed since the 1960's. Greg Harris was more of the same in 2002 and 2004. Their bipartisan solutions are mutually exclusive, cannot work together. Special interest money from the NRA and gun manufacturers to monopoly political parties has prevented any solutions to decades old gun problems. The issue was introduced by a voter's question at the first District One debate for the 2000 election. David Groshoff, Libertarian, and I were not invited to participate. The lack of new ideas from the two monopoly candidates was disheartening. I propose a few below.

I am convinced by the study of history that our freedom has been maintained partially by our second amendment rights to own and keep arms. That right has prevented would-be dictators from having an easy target. We must be "armed" against our own government to ensure freedom and self-government.

We no longer have a population universally trained in gun safety, either male or female. With a population untrained in gun safety and millions of unregistered firearms in private hands, we have a tremendous potential for disaster. In addition, "Virtually-trained" expert snipers and assassins, our own computer-game playing children, increase the disaster potential and the number of real incidents of tragic deaths in our schools and in our neighborhoods.

We need more than standard worn-out Democratic and Republican positions on gun legislation, which offer no solutions. To satisfy all sides, we need to protect and ease the ability of our citizens to own arms for self-defense and to maintain freedom. At the same time, we must do thorough background checks on the sale or re-selling of arms to new owners. (Top of Page)

A substantial gun safety program should be completed before purchase of any firearm. The buyer must be aware of the tremendous potential for harm of real weapons. The primary rule of gun safety must be engraved into the buyer's brain: treat all weapons as if they are loaded and never point any weapon at a living target unless you intend to shoot the target. (Top of Page)

A gun safety requirement could become part of public safety studies in high school much like driver's education. Course completion could qualify the student to own a gun. The NRA also has a gun safety awareness presentation for primary school children that could save many young lives.

Abandon the pointless argument over one to three day waiting periods. My experience in investigation indicates 30-days would help insure that all background checks are thoroughly completed to fulfill the high duty owed to public safety. We must have a reasonable waiting period to correct human and technical errors made during the course of one to two days of electronic investigations. In addition, follow-up on leads may be needed in some cases. Our duty to protect innocent lives is clear. We need to establish public policies that will satisfy the diverse needs of all interested parties. (Top of Page)