It is important to know that every right implies and actually thrusts upon us a responsibility. Imagine we're driving down the road in 1950. The insurance industry is about to start a decades long campaign to make our trip infinitely safer. Through incentives and insistence they are going to change the cars we drive and the roads we travel. They are going to forge a public/private partnership that serves us well to this day. In the process, they are going to save thousands of lives and become very profitable. When you think about it, it's very doubtful, given the types of vehicles and the condition of the highways at that time, if those liability companies would have been in favor of universally mandated insurance. Just too damned dangerous and not much profit left. So progress was slow.
The first thing I remember them mandating was safety glass. Shatterproof glass. Can you even imagine driving a car without shatterproof glass? Can you imagine the injuries? They were commonplace. I can think of three movie actors who were badly disfigured but gruesome trivia is not the subject today.
The next thing I remember was the mandatory inclusion of flashing turn signals and believe it or not, brake lights. They had public service announcements showing you how to make hand signals for turns and stops. I'm sure the hand signals we are all familiar with now were common then as well. There's only so much you can communicate with flashing lights. But, they decided to try a bit. Eventually, they got to the point, if you had a vehicle without turn signals it had to be retrofitted. That was probably the first collaboration of insurance company insistence and government mandate. I was too young to notice if people complained but I'm sure some did.
Next underwriters became influential in the design of roads, proper lighting in some places, roadside gradings, breakaway light standards, guide rails instead of guardrails and on and on.
Then seat belts, much larger brake lights, emergency flashers, running/side lights. Uniform bumper heights and on and on. It's getting to the point where it's kinda hard to get killed in a car and because of that insurance profits are through the roof. Just look at the ubiquitousness of the advertising. That costs excess cash. They have it.
They have that excess cash because that public/private partnership is a good model and it works. By giving industries a tangible financial stake in the safety of their products there has been a substantial improvement in safety, usefulness and profit. In case you missed it, that's capitalism in action. The benefits have flowed to the public and the insurance industry and the manufacturers.
This is not an isolated example and when you think about it, why should it be? Commercial and residential buildings, workplace safety, fire codes, electrical and plumbing codes. By the way. Plumbing codes are not enforced by some office of the zoning or building commission. Plumbing codes are developed and enforced by the Health Department.
Isn't that nice? I bet you didn't know or at least, never thought of that stuff. Well, now you have.
Let's go back to the original example. Automobiles are useful, ubiquitous and can be dangerous. They are prone to misuse. They can fall into the wrong, unauthorized hands and do great damage. We insist that potential damage be indemnified.
Firearms are useful, ubiquitous and can be dangerous. They are prone to misuse. They can fall into the wrong, unauthorized hands and do great damage. There really doesn't seem to be much difference because there isn't. The long-term solution to the problems we face seems to be a public/private partnership that indemnifies those negative outcomes.
We need every gun, every gun existing or newly made to have a liability policy. The evolving solutions to our problems will be gradually and effectively addressed by simple capitalism outside the hurly-burly of political faction and well inside the 2nd Amendment. The problem is not our rights. The problem is our responsibilities. We know how to address the responsibilities our rights burden us with. Let's do it!
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