BullfrogKen
Moderator Emeritus
Like hso mentioned, keep coming at this from the angle of the DWI program.
The risk of injuries and deaths from driving is a lot higher than stupid gun handling. You could point out the error by taking it to an absurd extreme.
In light of recent DWI's, would the Commander mandate no personal ownership of a vehicle unless the purchase was first approved by him? No one may purchase a vehicle unless he first went through a AAA course? And all POV's will be stored at the motorpool when not in use.
Commanders are a lot more concerned with minimizing the risk of some stupidity by those under him affecting his career than common sense and personal freedoms. The only way to ensure no one will do anything stupid in his off time is to restrict everyone to base and suspend liberty.
Does he have children? At what point does he draw the line between he and his wife being responsible for the actions of his children, and his children begin to become responsible for their actions?
I think a decent education program can be set up that includes a session about responsible gun ownership. Just because it's the military doesn't mean they know what responsible gun ownership entails. Safe gun handling skills are learned, and outside of groups of service people who will come into frequent contact with firearms, it's just not taught. There exists whole groups of young people who simply are ignorant of concepts like The Four Rules.
A decent education program, combined with a stern stance regarding stupid gun handling by the people in your unit, can eliminate a majority of these problems.
The risk of injuries and deaths from driving is a lot higher than stupid gun handling. You could point out the error by taking it to an absurd extreme.
In light of recent DWI's, would the Commander mandate no personal ownership of a vehicle unless the purchase was first approved by him? No one may purchase a vehicle unless he first went through a AAA course? And all POV's will be stored at the motorpool when not in use.
Commanders are a lot more concerned with minimizing the risk of some stupidity by those under him affecting his career than common sense and personal freedoms. The only way to ensure no one will do anything stupid in his off time is to restrict everyone to base and suspend liberty.
Does he have children? At what point does he draw the line between he and his wife being responsible for the actions of his children, and his children begin to become responsible for their actions?
I think a decent education program can be set up that includes a session about responsible gun ownership. Just because it's the military doesn't mean they know what responsible gun ownership entails. Safe gun handling skills are learned, and outside of groups of service people who will come into frequent contact with firearms, it's just not taught. There exists whole groups of young people who simply are ignorant of concepts like The Four Rules.
A decent education program, combined with a stern stance regarding stupid gun handling by the people in your unit, can eliminate a majority of these problems.