Nothing seems so uncommon as common sense.
We hear a lot about the need for common sense gun laws. Mostly from people who propose laws that fit their idea of common sense. Of course, if there were no guns there would be no gunshots, but Lizzy Borden took an ax and gave her mother forty whacks. Some people want only the police and military to have guns, like Russia, China, North Korea, Myanmar and Cambodia. Not places I would want to live. Since the guns are not likely to go away how about teaching common sense for dealing with the guns and gun users we have today? Common sense teaching like. Number one: Do not point any gun at anything you do not intend to destroy. Two: Every gun is loaded until you personally ensure that it is not. If only Alec Baldwin had followed either one of those rules. If someone gives you a gun, immediately clear it, or ask them to clear it first. If for some reason you must accept a loaded gun from another, keep the muzzle up, see rule number one. Do not entrust a gun to someone you are not absolutely sure will act safely. There are more, but those few will prevent you from an act you will regret. The rest of the rules deal with guns that are ready to use. Take a class. Hollywood could present responsible use. I wonder how boy scouts who got to use a rifle range are represented in gum crime statistics. Nothing is more attractive to teenagers, than forbidden fruit. Millions of soldiers have handled guns without hurting anybody, but they were trained.
Everything is dangerous in the wrong dose. There are lots of household chemicals that can be deadly if misused, but are useful if the directions are followed. There are things in our diet that we love and depend on, but too much or too little can make you sick, or even kill you. Salt is the obvious one. Too much can give you high blood pressure or other ailments, too little and your nervous system shuts down. Medicines, aka drugs can be lifesavers, or killers.
Every drug has a proper dose, often for a particular person at a particular time. Read the label.
Then there are so called recreational drugs. The list is long and it’s hard to know whether to include some like sugar, caffeine and nicotine, but those are all useful in a reasonable (there’s that word again) dose. Then there are the controlled, scheduled substances. From cannabis to cocaine, amphetamines, opioids and a few others I don’t even know about. With the exception of cannabis, the others can kill you if you take too much and are mostly addictive. There are no known deaths from cannabis overdose. (That makes it safer than aspirin.) Some opioids, fentanyl in particular have a very small separation between useful and lethal dose. Current federal drug laws leave the distribution in the hands of criminals. If you wanted to provide organized crime with a lucrative business, our drug laws would be a good model.
Common sense suggest we try something else. Regulation, recreational drugs available on request, but in standardized labeled, packaging and doses like tobacco and alcoholic beverages. Every drug could be prepackaged in one basic minimum dose quantity. Whether its edible marijuana, one cookie per package or fentanyl, 0.5 milligram per pill. Read Why our drug laws have failed. by Retired Judge James P Gray it’s very enlightening. I put it in the library, and Amazon has it.
Traffic laws for the most part are based on common sense. If we all behave the same courteous way traffic flows safely and smoothly. We all get where we are going safely. One part of the traffic laws rejects reason. Although traffic engineers have found that in most locations the optimum speed limit is the 85th percentile of free-flowing traffic. A speed limit at that level is practically self-enforcing, with only a few violators. Politics often insists on a lower, virtually unenforceable number that creates more conflicts and bad behavior.
In every case the goal should be the least harm, if we can’t achieve the greater good.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com.
