Using AirBnb's strategy to regulate backyard shooting ranges will result in lower gun violence incidents

I recently read this compelling article on Everytown's Safety In Numbers blog David Riedman: Using “First Principles” Thinking to Decrease School Shootings by 10x It posits that to find a solution to the gun violence epidemic raging around our country we should implement the first principles idea popularized by AirBnB. The idea goes like this:

• Break down problems into their simplest elements.
• Identify current assumptions.
• Challenge the assumptions and avoid analogous thinking.
• Create new solutions from scratch.

Sadly much of the conversations around guns and gun violence in this country is the same status quo. One way to challenge the status quo is to question every assumption we as a society, culture, and country have about guns. One of those assumptions is that if you live in the countryside or rural areas gun fire is just a daily occurrence. However, if you had this happening in your backyard would you be okay with the status quo?

This is not people plinking cans with their grandpappy's .22! These are people going full cyclic with military grade weapons a few feet from homes, schools, public roads, and hiking trails.

Back in the 80's when legislators began considering making it illegal to drink alcohol when driving the uproar was profound. Now four decades later no one bats an eye when someone goes to jail for drinking a beer while driving. One day our children will scoff at the idea of shooting guns in their backyards because obviously the hobby of target shooting should take place in controlled and safe environments where the most dangerous aspects of the hobby can be mitigated.

How will this help address the epidemic of gun violence in this country? As a US Marine the idea that weapons were tools to be respected and to be handled with the utmost care was instilled in me at a molecular level. Too many American's view guns as trivial play things, a toy to help them pass away the time while they smoke a blunt, consume a few too many beers, and send a few thousand rounds "down range" in between flipping burgers on their backyard grill.

The time is now to make it clear that target shooting is a non-trivial pass time that should be enjoyed in safe and controlled environments that are not in close proximity to neighborhoods, schools, and other public areas. We need to make a stand and say that target shooters are not welcome in our neighborhoods and that not everyone shares their penchant for copious and invasive noise and frivolous disregard for basic safety and common decency. If we take this stand then I believe it will be one step towards shifting the public's perception of guns in this society. With this shift in assumptions that guns are just a daily facet of life in rural and semi-rural areas we can begin to challenge the wrong headed dogma that has gripped our country for too long and find solutions to the epidemic of violence plaguing our neighborhoods, backyards, and public gathering places.

One step that needs to be taken to make America safe again is for Connecticut to step up and set the example for all New Englanders by regulating the dangerous activity of backyard shooting ranges. Our neighborhoods sounding like war zones does not have to be a fact of life. We don't have to live in a country where guns are the number one killer of our children. We don't have to live in neighborhoods that sound like a war zone.

To address these very real concerns everything about guns and our culture as a country of gun worship should be on the table for discussion.

The time is now!