I'll tell you mine, since you're so interested.
My dad taught me to use guns when I was a kid. I grew up in a rural area, so many times we would go out and yes, kill for our own food. The first thing my dad did was teach me on his own, then send me to a gun safety course. He would not let me use one on my own until I had passed the course. This was in the 70s and the NRA was not what it is now. It was very different. They were very much about education back then. I was taught respect for guns, and taught never to point them at a human being, unless I was in mortal danger. And even then, it really had to be a last resort. My dad also taught me archery, which was his preferred method of hunting. I loved it too.
He would hunt deer, and every year the freezer would be filled with deer steaks. And let me tell you, there is nothing better than good venison.
However, times changed and so did the NRA. In 1999, my brother was having severe marital problems. He and his wife had gone through lots of counseling, and eventually went to a retreat for couples trying to work out their issues. In the end, they decided to divorce. It was more her decision than his, and he took off right after the decision without saying where he was going.
My sister in law was worried about him and called us right away. Well, this was before cell phones, so we couldn't track him that way. We had to rely on our gut instincts as to where he might have gone. My mom called me to tell me what happened and I knew immediately where he had gone- to our vacation place in Allegheny National Forest. Indeed he had. We called the police to go check our place there. They found him dead with a single self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
He had purchased a gun in our home state of Ohio, with no waiting periods, and shot himself a few hours later. No one had time to do anything.
Now, you can argue that if he was intent on killing himself, he could have jumped off a bridge or drove his car into a tree. But you know what? If there had just been a waiting period, he may have thought twice before doing anything, and we might have had time to get to him. But we'll never know now.
My dad quit the NRA shortly after they refused to back waiting periods in Ohio. And Ohio still has no waiting periods.
So my proposal? Waiting periods, extensive background checks, mandatory gun safety courses and a ban on ownership for the mentally ill. That should be acceptable.
Will it stop all gun violence? Nope. But it's a damn good start to minimizing it.
And no, to this day, I would never be for banning guns. Hopefully, I've answered you question.
