If you feel that training and education are the solution, I'm sure you wouldn't have a problem with people needing to undergo alcohol education classes, submit to background checks (to look for violent tendencies), and thumbprinting (to assist in identification in the event the alcohol user does commit a crime while under the influence) in order to be licensed to purchase and consume alcohol.
I'll ask you again.
If guns are so harmful and dangerous to the public that they need this sort of regulation, why do we not require people who are going to choose to lower their inhibitions, reaction speed, and judgement capabilities by imbibing alcohol to undergo the same scrutiny?
Alcohol is more dangerous and it's sales are less regulated than firearms, yet you do not have a problem with that. So you can't be arguing for public health, I want to know what you are arguing for?
Why guns?
Is it the way they look?
The fact that they are more apparently violent?
Perhaps it's the fact that people sometimes intentionally use guns to hurt others, while users of alcohol manage to do all of their killing without motive.
I think that's it, I think you have a problem with the idea that some people want to hurt other people sometimes.
Good luck legislating your way out of that.
You're posing a good argument here and I have to admit it's tricky for me at this point. However, I stand by my statement that alcohol is a consumable where a gun is a weapon and I think the regulation for each should be different as they are fundamentally different
A gun's first purpose is to harm, whether that's for murder, self defense, or even just hunting. Alcohol is responsibly consumed by massive amounts of people. Yes, alcohol abuse is a problem, and yes, drunk driving is a problem.
Do I think we should require testing and licensing for alcohol? I'm not rooting for the idea, no, but I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to it if it came to be. Any responsible adult should be able to pass such tests with flying colors, just as I said when arguing for a gun test. If you're responsible and educated then you should have no problems at all.
We can all agree that there exists a problem in America with responsibility and education, as can be seen with America's inability to not be obese, falling education rankings, and excessive drug and alcohol abuse. I honestly support licensing, training, and education programs as long term solutions to such problems.
Currently, we do have provisions in place to limit the ability of risky alcohol drinkers from causing harm to others. In the case of drunk driving, if you get a DUI, you get yourself a breathalyzer in your car for a year. Second DUI, jail time and full license revocation. Third, you're fucked.
Does that stop the initial drunk driving? Nope. Should we require an alcohol education course and testing every few years? Possibly? I don't know if studies show that an alcohol education course would actually make a difference to abusers in much the same way DARE didn't actually help with limiting drug use. I had to take an alcohol education course in college and we all laughed at it because we were a bunch of college kids. No one is surprised by the effects of alcohol so I don't think there's much we can really educate about booze that can change people's behaviors with it. With guns, there are tangible lessons to learn regarding how to properly handle and use them.
My argument is that consumable products are fundamentally different than weaponry. Weapons are made to harm. Consumables can be abused. I think weapons should require extensive training and licensing before being allowed to purchase them.
Do you support that idea?