It requires gun ownership, but allows several outs, like if you're not physically or mentally able to handle a gun, or if you're a felon or have religious objections. [More]What if someone who is not religious just has objections?
I know these things are symbolic and intended to send a message, but I just don't like the heavy-handed presumptuousness of supposed servants mandating gun ownership for the same reason I object to supposed servants mandating health insurance.
A useful approach could be a resolution encouraging gun ownership combined with an invitation to attend periodic safety, marksmanship and tactical training sessions, along with maintenance and reloading workshops, all designed to advance skill levels and conducted in partnership between LE and local gun clubs, with the attendant resources both groups can offer.
It's easy to see how such events could attract peripheral vendor goods and services to become a major community event and money-maker, attracting people from miles around.
It's a reminder that along with rights, come responsibilities. Just as (nearly) all of us are members of the unorganized militia, which supports our right to keep and bear arms, we all have an obligation to perform militia duties. For example, just as Congress can draft soldiers to raise an army, the sheriff can draft citizens to form a posse. Their obligation to serve on the posse doesn't depend on whether they chose to buy a firearm or not. But if the law mandating is in place, then the ability of the sheriff to raise an effective posse is enhanced.
ReplyDeleteNot that we actually do things that way these days - but maybe we should, especially if it meant no standing "SWAT" forces.
I'll decide what my responsibilities are and if a sheriff is worthy of supporting, thank you. If he's not, he and his posse are going to have to do it without me--and possibly even against me.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that compulsion tends to be the wrong mechanism, I will note that it has worked out quite well for Kennesaw, GA since the 1980s.
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