I am a gun owner but not a member of the NRA. I have a pistol and a permit to carry but usually don’t, so what category do I fit in? I am not on one side or the other; just looking for a sane way to navigate the discussion.

One argument, made by Wayne LaPierre of the NRA, is that “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” If that statement defines the terms of gun ownership according to the NRA, let’s follow that thought. Clearly, we would want the good guys with guns to vastly outnumber the bad guys with guns, and we wouldn’t want to be letting more bad guys get more guns. So, how do we tell the good guys from the bad guys?

In the movies, we knew the good guys because they always wore the white hats. The bad guys wore the black hats in the movies. Well, we aren’t in the movies, so one way to define the good guys might be a background check. I have gone through it. All my friends who have guns have had background checks.

They are good guys. You don’t even need to be a really good guy, you can even have been a bit bad (for those who haven’t seen the regulations, you would be surprised). If you want a gun, this would be a reason to stay out of other trouble.

So, by the NRA’s terms, any good citizen deserving of a gun should not be afraid of a background check. If the background check shows you are a good guy, you can get a gun. If it shows that you are a bad guy, no gun. As to Wayne’s point — I would argue that it is easier to stop a bad guy who has no gun.

Jonathan Seaton

North Bend