PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

When I was a private sector lobbyist in Oregon for more than 25 years, I purposed that I would never represent several interests, including pro gun advocates.

Well, for one thing, they probably would never have asked me to do so.

Now, in retirement, I have purposed that I would never write about guns.

Recent events have prompted me to re-consider, so here goes.

The most recent school shooting in Florida gave huge and renewed emphasis to the problems of guns in schools. One piece of good news was that students, both those from Parkland, as well as from around the country, rallied around gun control – and some of them even met with President Trump to nail the message.

But, wouldn’t you know it? The next day the National Rifle Association (NRA) came out with its solution: More guns.

It said arming teachers would do the trick. Give them guns so they could shoot the shooters.

The Washington Post entered the fray this morning with a headline that read, “For the NRA, freedom means being heavily armed and scared to death. The answer to the problem of gun violence cannot just be more guns.”

As for Trump, no surprise there. He has changed his views on guns over the years, and he’s now been parroting the NRA mantra that “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

In classic Trumpian fashion, he takes ideas that other Republican politicians have espoused and goes one step further.

The legislature in Oregon, meeting in regular session, is considering what may be a small, but significant, change in Oregon law. Currently, a spouse convicted of domestic violence is prohibited from owning a firearm. A bill passed in the Senate expands the ban to include other intimate partners.

For what it’s worth – and some will say not much – I support two ideas to limit guns.

One is often mentioned, but never gets enough muscle to surmount the NRA. It is to control access to assault rifles. Why would a regular citizen need such a weapon? He or she wouldn’t!

The second idea is to create a new law that says that the THREAT of violence at a school would be a crime in itself, one that would allow law enforcement authorities to make an arrest. That could have helped in the Parkland tragedy.

The shooter had issued a variety of threats over social media and law enforcement authorities were aware of those threats. Some observers have said the authorities should have done more with those threats.

I say yes and give them a new authority – allow them to make arrests instead of waiting for a crime to occur.