Dorian Phibian - Art Rocker running as Lone Democrat in Louisiana Congressional District 3 House race - AMA

Great questions! I will approach them one by one just as you have presented them.

1.) What does "common sense gun law" mean to me? First I will explain the role of guns in my own life so far. I grew up on a pig farm in Gillis, Louisiana. My father was a welder & safety inspector at nearby plants such as Olin & Arco - he was a farmer, a bull rider, a perfectionist to a fault who perhaps could not see his own, or perhaps just didn't know how to cope. i don't pretend to know for certain. My father had many guns and his father still does to this day.

 In our family , guns were treated with respect. Locked away. The bullets kept separately. We were taught early on how to take care of them, & most importantly how to respect what they were capable of. I can remember my father shining any gun he had taken out before returning it to its place in the safe or case. He had a pistol in his night stand. 

 One day we were in the backyard shooting at clay pigeons & one broke on its own, destroyed by the action of the launcher. I lowered my shotgun to wait for the next target & suddenly ~BOOM!~ i hadn't put the gun on safety before lowering it and i blew a 6" in hole in the ground between myself and someone i believe i had only just met that day. I was mortified. It could have happened to anyone. It happened to me, & it could have so easily been so, so much worse. So, personally, i have not been very fond of guns since then.

 When i moved away from home at age 15 to attend the Louisiana School for Math, Science, & the Arts in Natchitoches, LA, i left all of the guns i had received as gifts from family throughout the years at home, & upon my return sold them to my grandfather, Jasper "Boonie" Hebert. The only gun i have owned since then was inherited after my father, Danny, used it to take his own life on April 12th, 2011. It was a Harrington & Richardson .22 revolver. Blue steel. About a year after the incident i finally decided to claim ownership from the police. I couldn't stand the thought of them having it just filed away somewhere. They did return it to me and even did me one better. One spent shell. There were more bullets, but the cops didn't think it wise for me to have them. I agreed.

 I held that pistol in my hands every single day for two weeks or more. Such a tainted object. I knew it could only bring pain. Some very good friends suggested destroying it & I agreed. I drove to Moss Bluff, LA to meet with my brother & with the help of he and his friend, we dismantled it into as many pieces as we possibly could and then my brother & i threw it into the river that runs across the street from our dad's grave & his old camp on the water.

 I know we did the right thing.

 I get it that we will never destroy all of the guns. They are a fundamental part of American life. However, machine guns, semi-automatic and automatic weapons - devices created to maim & rapidly murder - they should not be able to be used "just anywhere" in everyday civil society. Nothing good will EVER come of this ability, & i think "common sense" would be to meet on some middle ground.

 "Guns, don't kill people! People kill people!" screams one side. "Ban all Guns!" say the total pacifists. Look. It is true that "guns" don't (typically) kill people - that is, with no bullets in the picture. If i had a gun without bullets it would be little more use as a weapon than a heavy pipe or the like unless it were equipped with a bayonet & even that is little more than a sword. One potential option would be to consider regulating the bullets. I am open to suggestions. 

 What do i mean by "regulate bullets?" I mean treat them like prescription drugs. They even kind of look like pills. Prescription drugs are illegal if you don't have a prescription, which you must attain through analysis & testing. It is "common sense" why. 

Let's compare owning and operating a firearm with owning and operating a vehicle: A license is required to drive a certain class of vehicle or above & different classes of automobiles require specialized licenses. We CAN find common ground if the interest is truly a safer society.  

Scalability, Safety, & Education In All Things.

It doesn't have to be that complicated.

/r/Acadiana Thread Parent Link - i.reddituploads.com