Accidental deaths are rare and dropping, largely due to the NRA's educational efforts since 1907 or so.Boyle wrote: I'm for a federally funded course (federally funded so that the 2nd Amendment isn't encroached upon by this) on safety and use of firearms so that not only can people own and operate them, but now they will know the standards of use/possession and be able to be held responsible for misuse. Folks that are criminals won't necessarily take this course, but having a more educated populace in regards to firearms seems positive to me.
This won't solve problems inherent with having a nation full of weapons, but it may well mitigate some of the accidental deaths.
The problem with having a federal standard of training is that a) it implies that the RKBA can be licensed, and the power to license is the power to deny, which means that given authority to determine what an adequate amount of "education" is, a Congress (or bureaucracy) hostile to gun ownership can easily make the requirements so stringent, so difficult to complete and so byzantine as to make it functionally impossible for an average person to obtain the necessary license, and b) the laws regarding the use of deadly force, and carrying a weapon, vary from state to state and can vary quite a lot, so it would be impossible to create a universal course that would fit every state's laws.
For example, I'm on a trip and I'm wearing my pistol under my shirt right now. I'm in North Carolina and it's legal for me to do so because the state recognizes my Colorado CCW permit. However, I have to obey the laws regarding WHERE and WHEN I can carry concealed that apply in North Carolina, even if they are different from Colorado. For example, I cannot carry in a bar here, but I can carry in a restaurant where alcohol sales for consumption on the premises are permitted, but I cannot drink alcohol at all while doing so.
In Colorado I can carry my gun into a bar, and I can even have a beer or glass of wine, so long as I do not become "under the influence" of alcohol (generally considered to be 0.05% BAC), so I have to carefully check the law in every state where I wish to carry. I cannot go north literally 20 miles into Virginia because my permit is not valid there (it used to be though), nor can I carry in South Carolina...unless I go to Virginia and obtain a nonresident Virgina CCW permit, which gets me South Carolina and Michigan as well as Virginia, none of which recognize my Colorado or Nevada permits.
So the possibility abuse of the system by the administration is the greatest concern, and it's a valid one. New York City, for example, technically issues CCW permits, but practically speaking only the well-connected can get them because its law requires that applicants use a form actually printed and provided by the city. You cannot use a printed-out copy, you must obtain the form from the city. But the city stopped printing all but a very limited supply of those forms decades ago and the City Council steadfastly refuses to authorize funds to the police department to print enough forms for Joe Average Citizen to get one. That's just the first of many obstacles they deliberately put in the way of actually getting a permit simply because they can do so and have an executive policy that disfavors an armed citizenry.
Imagine that at the federal level.
Right now I have two suppressors in the process of being issued a simple tax stamp under the NFA, and it will take AT LEAST nine months to complete...more now that the shutdown is in place. There is no necessity to make the process so difficult, expensive and long, it's just that the BATFE has the authority to put your application on a slow boat to China...and back...before doing the literal two minute NCIC check on their computers they need to make sure the applicant is not a felon. There's something like six agents doing the paperwork (maybe five now...when they actually work) for more than 45,000 applications for NFA items this year alone.
Imagine what a hostile administration could do by way of obstructing an individual's constitutional right to keep and bear arms if the law required everyone who owns or wants to own a gun to take a class:
"Hello? Yes, this is the Federal Gun Licensing Division Class Scheduler, how can I help you?"
"Can I schedule a class? I want to buy a gun."
"Why yes you can. I have an opening at the class held at the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. on November 6th, 2056 at 2 pm. Is that a convenient time for you?"
"Anything sooner?"
"No sir, I'm sorry but there isn't. Please understand that I'm the only FGLDCS the government has, and I'm also the only authorized federal instructor for the classes, which are limited to 5 participants per class to ensure that each student receives the very best in firearms safety training. Classes are held regularly once per year. Would you like me to send you the application form?"
"Um, okay, I guess so..."
"Fine sir, you may expect your form to arrive in the mail between three and five years from today, although it could be longer if Congress declines to make an appropriation to print the forms again this year as they have the last five years."
"Um...thanks I guess..."
"You're very welcome sir. I hope you have had a pleasant experience with the federal government, is there anything else I can help you with today?"
"Nah."
*click*
Um...no thanks.