We Need a Universal Gun Score

…the right to bear arms shall not be infringed__by others__

However, YOU most certainly CAN infringe your right to bear arms by not meeting the safety standards of age, soundness of mind, criminality or social hostility. We already have age limits and violent felons are not allowed to possess firearms, nor are prisoners so we already very much as a society DO infringe on this “right” and we need to do it way more often. Yes, your right to bear arms most certainly can and will be infringed.

In the language of the 2nd Amendment the word infringed is subservient to and dependent upon well-regulated which comes first in the clause. Think of it this way—arms ownership is more like being in an elite club that can actually be trusted to protect the interests of society and state. You don’t just let anybody into that circle of trust which defeats the purpose, clearly demonstrated in today’s lax environment. Because of our terrible abuse of this clause we are now in the position of needing to kick well-armed people out of the club that should have never been there. How stupid is that unless you are a gun seller?

In that spirit, having a disqualifying Gun Score is not to be stigmatized or even known about any more than people know you don’t own firearms now. No big deal. Firearms don’t actually help you get through washing, feeding, working, having a beer, sleeping, etc. so they are 100% optional. Also, having a qualifying Gun Score does not make one infallible either because anyone can snap at any time after having secured a gun.

We must develop a Gun Score database for each and every identifiable human inhabitant of the United States. The idea is similar to a credit score but in reverse, more like points on your license and I propose it has three basic levels of meaning or statuses:

STATUS 2: Gun ownership allowed (no red flags)

STATUS 1: Gun ownership suspended for 5 yrs (any new red flags adding up to 2 in severity)

STATUS 0: Gun ownership forbidden (not of age, too many red flags or one level 3 red flag)

This Status is required to make a large statistical difference in both the quantity of gun owners (reduce) and the quality of gun owners (increase) and to come back into the intent of and compliance with a well-regulated militia (those that are armed).

As we all can plainly see and are all sick of hearing, too many “red flags” slip under the radar and another madman/child gets his psychopathic hands on an easy-kill weapon and destroys many lives in many ways. I propose we concentrate on this one problem and do what the credit companies and DMV’s have been doing for decades, except regarding guns. We desperately need to raise the bar for gun ownership. The only two ways to do that is to make fewer guns (I suggest a manufacturing quota for that too) and to make it much harder to acquire a gun.

Let’s not care about the gun businesses for a minute but instead only the People’s well-being and Safety. After all if you made a poison you were knowingly selling as a medicine or food, who would care if you went out of business? Quit caring about cold-hearted gun makers. They will do fine selling to qualified owners and the military!

Red Flags

Let’s stop the hand-wringing over what constitutes a red flag and simply create the list and criteria. Creating a National Red Flag Database is simple and a few hundred million records is not even that big of a database by today’s standards.

Red Flag conditions would be a combination of psychological, school records, social media, community reporting and of course criminal records. Red flag conditions would be assigned a Severity Level from 1–3. A Gun Score would be the sum total of all your red flags. A sum of 3 or more would permanently lock you out of lawful possesion of firearms. Three strikes and you are out, basically. Most people would have no red flags but way more than we currently think would have 1 or more.

Database Record

All the record has is a personal identifier like a social security number, a birthdate, a home identifier, and the red flag condition and the red flag time stamp. From those records we can get your current Gun Score Status at any time. You are issued a red flag of 0 at birth.

This record would follow you wherever you moved in the United States. The Home Identifier is important because if anyone in a home was disallowed, the entire home must be disallowed. Adam Lanza stole his mother’s legally purchased gun before he killed her and then tragically went to the Sandy Hook grade school. He was not qualified to own and therefor since he lived at home with his mother, she was not qualified to own either. This was a prime example of a terribly-regulated militia.

Seven Sources of Red Flags

Red flags would be introduced only from certified sources in 7 categories:

1. Psychological: From a licensed clinician or psychologist
2. School: From a certified school counselor or administration
3. Social Media: From verified postings of violent intentions or glorifying violence
4. Criminal: Via the Justice system
5. Community: From a sufficient level of community concern
6. Work: From HR concerns that have arisen and been confirmed
7. Family: From concerned family members who feel a person is a danger

These seven sources cover the vast majority of observable time with an individual and insights into their thinking and circumstances/

Severity Index

Each red flag would be rated in severity according to the danger or threat level perceived, including self-harm. These are mere suggestions and it would be left to psychological and legal experts to define the exact criteria:

Level 0: Under Age, not qualified.

Level 1: Transitory anger issues, suicidal ideation, persistent depression, mild violent thoughts expressed, extreme frustration with circumstances, anti-social

Level 2: Non-violent felony, non-violent gang association, extreme anger issues, suicidal attempt, bullying or instigating fights, sociopathic tendencies

Level 3: Violent crime, extreme threats, partner or child abuse, psychopathic or severe mental illness demonstrated, violent gang association, violation of gun laws

Each individual item would be a separate entry so if for example you expressed interest in suicide and showed fairly persistent anger issues that could be two Level 1 Red Flags and would qualify you for 5 yr suspension.

Even though an individual was under age, they could accumulate red flags in adolescence (12+) in some circumstances and could at arrive a legal gun buying age unable to do so.

Appeals and Expungement

There would have to be an appeals process to prevent potential mistaken red flags and likewise a way for a record to be wiped clean or even for red flags to expire after a certain time interval. That said, we should worry much less about losing the gun ownership lottery and concentrate on way more important things. Indeed, overly wanton desire for a gun is almost a red flag in itself. The gun owners we want are upstanding, trustworthy, stable and responsible. Period. We’re not interested in growing the gun club, only the quality of the gun club.

Other Shades of Ownership

It may be that we could further characterize which types of weapons a person could own with a given profile but that becomes more onerous to manage than a more binary yes/no system. Also, we could have allowances for rural areas where in fact a gun becomes more of a necessary tool. The main issues we have are with urban gun violence but nevertheless we owe it to our rural citizens to protect them from unstable owners and often even themselves since rural suicide is not uncommon.

Conclusion

So long as we are a gun owning society, we have a logical need to set strict limits on gun ownership to prevent this scourge of senseless killing and the anxiety it brings to our children and communities. We want to stop looking over our shoulders and live in peace. This can only be achieved with such a system. In this way the Gun Score IS your background check, instantly accessible from anywhere with Internet connection. We very much need to centralize the data and make sure it is updated regularly from the seven sources as needed. The calculation of your gun qualification is instant and final at the time of assessment, no further background checks needed. Any gun sellers who thwart this system would face loss of license, penalties and possible prison time. There is no reason this could not be shared via INTERPOL to prevent international sales as well for participating nations.