Believe it or not, I’m okay with a certain amount of regulation, largely based on training requirements. I think what you said about different types of licenses is dead on.
However, I actually do think civilians should have access to military grade weaponry- And the reason is that I believe freedom depends on the democratization of power: I don’t trust 1% of the population to have control over all the money, I don’t trust one telecom giant to have control over all of an area’s telecom lines, I don’t trust 5 companies to have control over all of the media, and I don’t trust government employees to have control over all the guns.
Mind you, I also directly connect this to a massive reduction in our military and a return to the idea of a “well regulated militia” in lieu of “standing armies”.
I don’t think it’s an appropriate response to robbery either, but it is an appropriate response to rape, and it’s an appropriate response to kidnapping- And realistically, if someone breaks into my house in the middle of the night, I’m not taking the time to find out their motives.
That said- Anyone so paranoid and untrained as to open fire without verifying their target and/or yelling “stop or I’ll shoot”, is someone who should not be in possession of a firearm in the first place. So, we’re back to mandatory training as a prerequisite to ownership.
