Bring back the draft? Bad idea

In my previous post I proposed voluntary security-related service as a prerequisite to owning guns. One competing approach that I will briefly address would be mandatory service (actually, I will let others address it). I don't think there is much support for bringing back the draft, but former congressman Charles Rangel called for it while he was in office, and others have called for a broader range of compulsory service, so I think it merits a look.

Howard Sapolsky of MIT offers arguments against reinstating the draft in his article, "What Americans Don't Understand About Their Own Military". This article is also useful for the figures on American rates of participation in the military.

Yet another approach would be mandatory military training. Harry S. Truman was a proponent of universal military training (UMT) throughout his political career, including this address to a joint session of Congress on Oct. 23, 1945. Truman draws a distinction between UMT and a draft, and I think the distinction is a fair one. Should my proposed service requirement for gun ownership prove unfeasible, my fallback position would be to require some sort of training such as Truman suggests as a prerequisite for gun ownership.

Truman called for a year of training followed by 6 years of eligibility for call-up. I am not opposed to Truman's plan in principle, but it does not seem to be politically viable. A less demanding proposal might be something like this:

• Two 6-to-8 week training camps would take place during successive summers. 
• Most trainees would begin at age 17 or 18. 
• The first session would be mandatory and trainees would earn credit toward a secondary or post-secondary academic program.
• The second session would be voluntary and trainees would earn a small stipend.
• Trainees who complete both sessions would be eligible to buy firearms.

There would be no further service requirement or eligibility for call-up for those who complete both training sessions under this proposal. The training sessions would cover firearm safety, physical fitness, teamwork, and emergency preparedness, including basic first aid training. Certain civics lessons would be reviewed, including the roles of the security services in contemporary society. Trainees would learn about their options for service and would have opportunities to meet with representatives of various services. Such camps would draw trainees from multiple districts, exposing trainees to a wider peer group. It would be a chance for intervention should trainees have unaddressed issues such as obesity, illiteracy, social isolation, or mental illness (the camps would have to be run by competent and caring staff who could respond appropriately to such issues). Trainees who choose not to complete the second session could become eligible to buy guns by completing some form of service per my previous proposal.