Taverner
Taverner's JournalJust finished Oliver Stone's Untold History - wow. Jaw dropping.
That last episode - we have learned NOTHING
We are going about gun control the wrong way.
It needs to be treated like a public health issue - not a criminal one. Don't get me wrong, I know we need to get guns off the street and make them hard as hell to get. However, we'll never be able to do that by force.
Think smoking in the 1950s. Lots of people did it, and it was everywhere. When the surgeon general report came out, some people quit but in the late 60s to today, we've been running a public health campaign like no other. We were able to get 75% of all smokers to quit - simply by changing public perception from being cool to being the epitome of uncool.
Now we do the same things with guns - ads that make gun owners look stupid, careless, reckless, and dangerous. Ads that show kids finding guns. Ads that show kids getting into gun safes. Ads that show the numbers about the danger of guns. Then, have a long standing buy back program - no questions.
Soon, you will have thieves selling their stolen guns instead of keeping them. Instant cash! Put big warning stickers on the guns themselves - or etch it onto the gun itself. WARNING: HAVING A GUN IN YOUR HOME INCREASES YOUR CHANCE OF DYING BY x%, for example.
And I'm not talking a few ads on the sides of buses. I am saying make it part of the national school curriculum. Teach it so that kids think having guns is akin to sniffing glue or not showering. Make the ads so omnipresent that you can't tie your shoe without being reminded how dangerous guns are.
In 15 years, I predict gun owners will be a small sliver of a minority.
Profile Information
Name: Jason TavernerGender: Male
Hometown: California
Home country: USA
Current location: The Great San Francisco Bay Area
Member since: Fri Apr 9, 2004, 01:58 AM
Number of posts: 55,476
