General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: New Concealed Carry poll [View all]rrneck
(17,671 posts)but imposing greater training and testing that currently required.
A public space is a much more challenging environment for someone who uses a firearm for self defense. The combination of unfamiliar environs and people significantly complicate the rules of engagement and carrying a gun in public should assume more training in safety, conflict deescalation and the law.
More importantly, firearms have been an important part of American life for our entire history, and they show no signs of becoming less so for the foreseeable future. In fact, given the fact that concealed carry laws have spread to almost all fifty states and guns are being manufactured and sold at historic rates, education to help the population deal with those changes would certainly be considered a progressive/liberal objective.
We should use government to give people the tools they need to thrive in the world. If government is unwilling or unable to intervene to keep people safe, it should educate them so that they can do so themselves. Firearms education is one tool among many that would aid us in that objective.
We, as liberals, should take every opportunity to show people that government can work for them to support their efforts to live happy and healthy lives. Education about the use of some of the most ubiquitous technology in the world is such an opportunity.