by Dr. Bill Rogers
Director, Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws
WRogers@KeepAndBearArms.com

We are being told that we as a society MUST do something about our guns. Here are some things we might consider:

1. Study history. Look closely at the societies that have "outlawed" guns. Consider the governments gone awry, the refusal to admit liberty in speech, print, and conduct, the promises of "peace in our time" followed quickly by sequestration of political dissidents (and their families) and then the construction, filling, and emptying (by implementation of some sort of "final solution") of the death camps. History is clear: an unarmed society is a short-lived society filled with misery, imprisonment and death. Do we think we shall be spared the constants of history simply because we are Americans?

2. Study the criminal mind. Emphasize the power of "behavioral conditioning" as a "therapeutic modality." Rather than writing a tome of several pages, I simply submit that the would-be rapist is much less impressed by a request to use a condom lest permanent damage be inflicted upon his victim than by the likelihood of having his entrails (including his diseased testicles) blown away by an appropriately aimed handgun. This is intuitively obvious to most of us, and it is empirically proven by those of us unfortunate enough to have been caught up in such a scenario. We fail to listen to those of our neighbors who have survived such trauma at our own peril.

3. Learn to shoot. Let us become subject to this maxim: no man or woman who does not know how to handle a firearm will be allowed to formulate "rules of engagement" for those who have spent the time and money to acquire such skills. We must insist...INSIST with the power of law (if that entity is still to be recognized in our society) that all citizens learn to safely use a firearm. Once the mandatory training has been rendered, the citizen then shall be free to decide how they will integrate their newly acquired knowledge into their lifestyles. (The right to vote in public elections could well be tied to the willingness to assume such responsibility.) Once adequately trained, the citizen may choose to own a firearm or not, to carry a concealed or openly visible weapon or not, and to abdicate their well-being to their fellow citizens (perhaps as agents of the state --i.e. the police--) or not. But their choices in these matters will be considered uninformed, and thus moot, if they have not been trained in the skills pertinent to that issue which they seek to decide. 

Anything less than the above is silly. Anything less is wrong. Anything less is to be resisted by those of us that have assumed the responsibility for our own lives that are entailed by owning, carrying and having acquired the skills to properly use a firearm. 

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagations of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." -- Thomas Jefferson

Dr. Rogers is the Director of Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws, as found on the web at http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/dsgl. For access to other American doctors, visit their site. Other writings from Dr. Rogers reside in his archive at http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/Rogers.