Herald Tribune:

Lee Williams’ Note: Here’s a great guest column from Arden Tams. Arden served 24 years in the U.S. Army, the last 17 in Special Forces. As a Green Beret, he attended a host of high-speed SF schools, as well as some of the country’s most-prestigious private shooting academies. Arden, who retired as a CW2, deployed overseas 10 times, including multiple tours in Afghanistan. He’s trained Africans, Arabs and Afghans. I know no one with more downrange time. This is his first column.

by Arden Tams 

Now more than ever the gun community is under a microscope from both the anti-gun community and liberal politicians alike.

For too long the gun community has barked loudly about the infringement of our Second Amendment and done nothing about addressing concerns with proper instruction, training and safety.

There is an old analogy that house built on a foundation of sand will eventually collapse. Well, that holds true for initial firearms training too.

Since I retired from the military last year, I have not only witnessed improper training, I have been told by several instructors who are very proficient that many of their colleagues are not competent whatsoever.

Examples we all hear are instructors using starter pistols, or firing one shot down range for concealed carry classes.

This falls on both the instructor and student.

So how do we combat this as a gun community if there is a minimal standard in place set forth by states and the NRA?

We exceed the standards to ensure accidents like this last weekend do not happen.

Gun ownership is not only a right, it is also a privilege and a stewardship …

You can read the rest here.  I too have pressed for greater and more mechanically based training, mastering the mechanics of the weapon and mechanics of the person.  I’ve pressed for learning to field strip your weapon, getting more range time, practicing good trigger and muzzle discipline, having that hard-to-have conversation with your elder parents or grandparents on whether they really need to have a gun since they are being provided for and protected 24-7 (and you’re worried about Alzheimer’s disease, and no, I don’t mean protected by some irresponsible bureaucrat sitting at a desk in the middle of the night answering the phone), knowing where every firearm in your house is and being able to locate it blindfolded, lay your hands on it and say whether there is a round chambered from memory, and continually raising the bar of your own standards.

And he’s right in that folks who act irresponsibly do us no favors.  They only provide more fodder for the anti-gun crowd to trumpet.  But turning to the state to require increased standards in order to prevent the progressives from being able to trumpet our failures isn’t the solution, if that’s what he’s suggesting.

I agree with his sentiment, but saying that gun ownership is both a right and a privilege is simply wrongheaded.  Something that is a right cannot be a privilege.  And while sad, failures of personal gun owner responsibility don’t justify intrusions by the state.  If there are standards to be raised, it’s best left to the individual, the family and the gun owner community to do it.  Intent to exceed legal standards for the purpose of proving ourselves worthy to the collectivists only justifies the very legal standards that shouldn’t be codified in the first place.