TexasCHLforum.com

Here's an idea. Jonathan Swift might call it "a modest proposal." President Biden is printing money faster than any president in history. He and Kamala want to send $800 billion of your tax dollars to Central America to help fix the "root causes" of illegal immigration. On guns, though, the plan is not to spend money but to restrict your rights and make honest, law-abiding citizens into criminals by legislation.

So... How about we not send all those billions to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador--where they will be appreciated by the respective governmental officials, but do absolutely zip to quell illegal immigration to the U.S.--and instead earmark a measly $50 billion for a national firearms training initiative? Help us correctly exercise a right that's already enshrined in the Constitution. Make permitless carry available to anyone who is legally able to own a gun, and then leverage the many thousands of concealed carry and NRA certified trainers nationwide to offer government-paid, free-to-the public education. Optional, but free. And start 'em young...like our ancestors used to do before there were population centers densely packed with several millions of people...you know, like parents did back before there was even the term "mass shooting." School programs; bring back Eddie the Eagle into elementary schools; reintroduce airgun and NRA competitions in middle- and high-schools; foster sport shooters and our next Olympians.

Offer a structured plan nationwide with multiple courses around firearm safety, firearm maintenance; firearm use and administrative handling; the practicalities and responsibilities of carrying a firearm; self-defense inside and outside the home; the law of defensive use of firearms, etc. The instructors and the ranges bill the federal government for approved courses. Outside of school settings, all students over the age of 18 welcome free of charge (they provide, rent, or pay for firearms and ammunition, of course) provided they are legally eligible to use/own a firearm and, say, pass an NICS check first. Work a deal with IDPA, USPSA, and other competitive shooting organizations to provide memberships billed to the government but free to the public.

Instructors would get more work than ever before, and in a relatively short period of time we would develop millions more honest, law-abiding citizens who have a much higher level of training and awareness about firearms. We've already--going by NICS numbers alone--seen gun sales shatter all-time records almost month-over-month. Let's train 'em up, not criminalize 'em! There would still be gang violence, which accounts for the large majority of shootings, but the gangs and the felons and the terrorists would start to learn, of the 197 million people in the U.S. over 21 years of age, that, say, one in every 7 or 8 has had firearms training and may be carrying. You want a crime deterrent and a mass shooting deterrent? There you go. Reduce target-rich, low-threat environments. There's a reason there are no mass shootings at busy gun ranges.

That's a national gun program I could get behind.