Wandschneider mug

Years and years ago, when I was much younger, I sometimes drove after drinking too much, and occasionally with a beer in hand. Once, a state policeman stopped me coming out of Joseph and had me count backwards, touch my toes, and walk a line. He knew me, and suggested I get in the passenger seat and let my wife drive home.

And there was the time after a full and fabulous day at the ski run, sipping that last beer as we headed for home on the back roads, that I hit a patch of ice and slipped into the barrow pit. Fortunately, the only damage was to my ego. And fortunately, my law-breaking and stupid behavior was at low speeds on quiet roads though things still might have gone south, as they did for many mostly careful drivers.

And then along came Mothers Against Drunk Driving MADD. Mothers across the country stood up and screamed at the press, at lawmakers, and at law enforcement agencies to do something about the rash of young deaths on our roads caused by drunk drivers. I remember a dance at Cloverleaf Hall sponsored by a group I was a part of we had a team of sober drivers ready to get people home. And Wayne Davis telling me that he noticed the MADD difference with great pleasure in his body shop.

I cant remember specific new laws that MADD helped enact, but I do remember hearing about the laws in Scandinavian countries, about one DUI and losing a license forever, about real jail time. I and the country stopped to listen. MADD worked.

I have been thinking about this as we stew over gun laws and deaths mostly young deaths caused by guns and the people who misuse them.

And it occurs to me that there are parallels. First, we are not going to get rid of guns any more than we were going to get rid of cars or alcohol. Second, there are laws on the books. Third, there are outliers cars and car speeds too fast for safety; guns too big for civil society. Fourth, registration and insurance are already in the picture. And, finally, no reasonable person thinks that gun deaths can be eliminated entirely (any more than deaths caused by drunk drivers), but everyone thinks that we can do better.

I think the parallels might give us a starting point. First, enforce existing laws. Second, outliers: forget about the ones in the middle of the current controversy. Do we agree that private individuals should not own or use rocket grenade launchers any more than we should drive Indie cars on the highway? Lets work our way back down the line, and maybe there is a place for a guntracks confined places where sportsmen and women can shoot things that are too dangerous on regular roads. And maybe weapons would have to be registered and kept there.

Users yes, it would be good to ferret out the mentally unstable. The radical thing to do is to make everyone get a license like we do with cars. I understand that the people who have concealed weapons permits, the folks who have jumped through legal hoops and are licensed, are the safest gun owners and users around, safer even than law enforcement officers. It seems to me that the mentally unstable guy with a gun trick up his sleeve (and yes, this is mostly a male problem) might have trouble passing a competency test. We seem to do pretty well with car and drivers licenses, taking tests, registering when we buy and sell

We might even have some safe places for people to store guns if there is fear of instability in the family, suicide threats or threats of violence, maybe even known depression. Safe places that anyone could use without prejudice. That sounds hard, but too hard? What we have is not working.

Finally, most gun deaths are at the hands of people the victims know. The most unfortunate ones are children who find a loaded gun at home and play their way to deaths. Maybe parents or responsible guardians deserve jail time when their gun goes off in such a way. Maybe guns would be watched more closely with such a law.

It seems to me that this close watching by friends, family, and community is most important of all, what MADD made us all do and what really did change behavior.

Main Street columnist Rich Wandschneider directs the Alvin M. and Betty Josephy Library of Western History and Culture housed at the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, located in Joseph.