Some other OSD folks had a longer, deeper meeting with Pincus that I can’t speak to, but I met him on the floor for about ten minutes between other meetings.

The implementation of this concept: …

“we want gun owners to acknowledge their need to be responsible, get trained, store your guns properly, etc… but we don’t think we need more laws for that….”

…as I understood it in my brief exposure, was a pledge. You sign the pledge in front of two of your friends saying you’ll store the gun safely, you’ll get trained, and such. It seemed benign and good.

The thing that worries me about it comes from my experiences as a LEED accredited professional in the development industry, through the US Green Building Council. They developed criteria for what counts as a “green” building, which are similarly completely voluntary. However, I’ve seen a trend of government simply adopting ordinances that state “our buildings must be LEED accredited,” so then it pivots from voluntary to involuntary, and does so outside the hands of the organization that developed the voluntary criteria.

So that’s something to watch.