Control Guns. Really. Control Them.

There has been talk on the Virginia Tech shootings on HuffPo. It's hard not to join in.

I'm in favor of gun control. I'm not in favor of banning guns, however. Owning a gun is a huge responsibility. You should have to pass rigorous tests. You and the gun you buy should have a license, just like your car. Technology to lock your gun down or to prevent anyone but you from firing it is available and should be made mandatory in all new weapons. Different levels of firearms should require different levels of licensing and patrolling; just as you need a different license to drive a big rig as opposed to a car, you should need a different kind of license to own a semiautomatic as opposed to a handgun. Cheap handguns should be banned.

Bear in mind this irrefutable fact: a gun is a killing machine, a destroying machine. Nothing more, nothing less. It amplifies the impulse to harm. Only those who are well-trained and mentally healthy enough to control those impulses should be allowed to own one.

PS: Bob Cesca has a corrosively good post on this topic here.