Can Gun Owners And Gun Haters Find Common Ground? This Gun Club Owner Says Yes

Gun owners are up in arms over presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s decision to put Beto O’Rourke in charge of his gun control policies. O’Rourke famously told audiences that he was “coming for your guns,” while Biden himself has taken a strong stance on gun control, most notably his commitment to take “AK-14s” off the street, a model that happens not to exist.

“Most gun owners are reasonable people,” says Victor Grillo, founder and CEO of the Weston Shooters Club, a premium gun club outside Boston. “We want sensible legislation, and we really believe we can find common ground with the other side.”

Grillo says that gun owners are well aware of the increase in mass shootings and would like to see Congress take sensible measures to limit access to weapons to people who shouldn’t have them.

“The problem,” Grillo says, “is that you’ve got people talking about gun control legislation who don’t know the first thing about guns. Ignorant people shouldn’t be trying to write laws.”

Grillo points to three areas where most gun owners would likely support legislation to make the country safer without impinging on the second amendment.

First, close the gun show loophole.

“Every gun owner ought to be vetted,” Grillo says. “We don’t see gun ownership as a God-given or unlimited right. You shouldn’t be able to just walk into a gun show and evade the licensing process that you’d have to go through if you bought a gun under any other circumstances. Gun owners recognize this fact. We want weapons kept out of the hands of irresponsible people just as much as anybody else.”

Grillo says that most gun owners would also support a second round of licensing strictures for those who wish to own assault-style weapons.

“When a kid gets his driver license at 17,” Grillo says, “it’s probably not best to put him behind the wheel of a Ferrari. Let him drive a regular car first and then step up later.

“It’s the same thing with weapons. Learn to be competent and safe with a handgun, and then you be subject to a second round of licensing requirements before you can own any other kind of weapon. It only makes sense.”

Third, Grillo says, most gun owners would support the idea that if a person appears to be suicidal or homicidal, that person should not have a gun.

“If a gun owner tells a therapist he’s going to shoot up his workplace,” Grillo says, “the therapist is obligated to call the police. So if my neighbor tells me he just got fired and he’s going to take a gun to his former workplace, I ought to be able to call 911 and have the police come talk to him.

“It’s not a blanket statement of, ‘I think you look a little strange so we’re taking away your guns.’ Instead, there needs to be some sort of sensible approach that allows for citizens to notify the authorities if a gun-owning friend, neighbor, or relative appears to be in a bad way.”

Grillo says that you could put a group of gun owners in a room for an hour and come out with a dozen such suggestions for reasonable changes to gun laws. The problem, he notes, is that there are too many people on both sides of the issue unwilling to compromise in the least.

“Gun owners get a bad rap,” Grillo says. “But we are not a monolithic group and we do not speak with one voice. If anything, we understand better than most people just how important it is to have gun laws that protect society while still upholding the 2nd Amendment.”