This Senate Candidate Wants to Give Shotguns to Homeless People, and We’re Just Like ‘Huh?!’

Safety among the homeless population is a drastically important issue. Homeless individuals are often taken advantage of and frequently find themselves the victims of violent crime. Brian Ellison, a Michigan Libertarian running for U.S. Senate, however, has a solution to help them. Mainly, he wants to provide shotguns for the homeless so they can defend themselves.

Color us … unconvinced. But Ellison has clearly given a lot of thought to his solution. In a recent interview with The Guardian, he revealed his thought process, saying, “Frankly I think the ideal weapon would be a pistol, but due to the licensing requirements in the state we’re going to have a hard enough time getting homeless people shotguns as it is. Getting them pistols is probably next to impossible. The pistols need to be registered, people have to have addresses.”

But Brian Ellison was undeterred by those pesky regulations about keeping track of who has dangerous weaponry. He realized that if he couldn’t get registered, concealed pistols to the homeless, there might be a weapon that wouldn’t need regulation.

As it turns out, while you need a permit to carry a concealed pistol, you don’t need a permit for carrying a long gun openly. Or, as Ellison put it, “So we thought that pump-action shotguns were a suitable alternative to a pistol.”

He proposes a plan that would “pre-qualify” homeless people who wanted shotguns (and were deemed “suitable” to own one). People who qualify would be given the shotgun along with ammunition, probably in five- or six-shell rounds. Don’t worry about wasting ammo, though — Ellison said more shells would only be provided if they legitimately used their guns for self-defense.

Being a Libertarian, of course, Ellison wouldn’t force shotguns for the homeless. He said, “The first thing that we’re gonna do is ask them if they think this is something that would benefit them. We’re certainly not trying to force anything on anybody.”

 

What do you think about Brian Ellison’s “Shotguns for the Homeless” proposal? Let us know in the comments!

Featured image by Michael Krinkle via iStock