Compromise

So there was an involved discussion on Talk of the Nation this afternoon and it spawned an interesting notion in my head.  I gave up on the notion of making guns illegal a while ago.  It really is a matter of civil liberties as well as a few other odd and ends that I'll gleefully ignore for the moment.  I often say that the best gun control would be a strict enforcement of a one strike policy on the use of a firearm in the commission of Any crime.  I still believe this, though it would require removing from prison a whole lot of other folks we have locked up.

But, here's the new question:  What about liability insurance?  Here's the thing, to drive a car, to open most types of open to the public businesses, to be any of a dozen different kinds of performers, you have to have liability coverage.  But not for guns.

Don't get me wrong, I hate the insurance industry with a passion but it's the very excesses I despise about their way of doing business that make this work in my head.  They don't want to have to pay.  So, if the guvmn't says that you have to carry a million dollars of liability insurance to own an operable firearm, they will require proof that you're not likely to blow your own foot off cleaning your gun and equally they'll want Some kind of evidence that you're not going to go on a mad rampage. 

Now, for those that like your guns, the comment about mad rampages might scare ya.  But here's the thing, if they can't sell policies, they make no money.  So the insurance industry won't limit access to firearms on anyone who is anything other than a major risk.  Just look at the number of wingnut drivers on the road, you'll know I'm right. 

So will this top gun crime?  Nope.  Gun control does fuck all to stop actual gun Crime.  It might give people some pause though and might weed out the small number of people who through accidents of birth or injury are too stupid to own a gun.  Might weed out a few unstable crackpots too.  Maybe.

A million dollars of liability sounds like a lot but it's not really.  And it won't fix shattered lives and money can't pay for everything, but sometimes it might help with a medical bill or two.  I figure this one to run around fifty bucks a year but that's a raw guess with only a little data to back it up. 

My apologies to my co-worker who has been scowling at me since this occurred to me but really, while I am almost certain this will never pass, I believe it to be perhaps the best compromise I can imagine.  I can support gun ownership as a right, but all rights come with responsibilities and I don't see this as an unfair.