Video: Mike Leach keeps a battle axe in his bedroom, and has a logical reason why

The recent shooting on the college campus at Umpqua Community College (OR) last week ripped open a scab that never seems to get a chance to truly heal, and that scab is the ongoing conversation on how to curb gun violence in America.

Because Mike Leach is known to speak exactly what is on his mind, a reporter decided to ask him his thoughts on guns, and you get exactly what you'd expect when it comes to Leach. The Seattle Times detailed his response:

I think there’s an incredible number of people who don’t know how guns work to begin with. We need a way to enforce the gun laws that exist now.

Whether it’s a car or boat or motorcycle, it’s a dangerous item, so you have to show a level of competence and get a license before you’re allowed to operate something that’s dangerous. Guns are dangerous but you don’t have to get a license to operate guns. I think in order to operate a gun, you should have a license that means ‘I know the difference between a pistol and a revolver, a shotgun and rifle, I can load and unload one and shoot it with some level of competency at what I’m aiming at.’ And until you can do that, you’re not allowed to operate a gun.

I’ve had players and stuff, they see some video on TV and they go to Walmart and buy a gun. Well they don’t know how to load it, they shoot it sideways. That’s absurd. That’s insane. So because of this failure to teach and educate, there’s accidental shootings.”

Naturally (somehow) that led to Leach explaining that he keeps a Viking axe by his bed, which beyond just being a weapon to protect your home, or a fancy tool to cut wood, can also serve as a grappling device.

I keep my guns on one part of the house totally locked up, and I keep the ammunition in another part of the house. Because if you think about it carefully, statistically, you’re more likely to shoot yourself, a loved one or a relative. There’s this (absurd) notion of ‘if you come in my house I’ll shoot ya.’ I do have a Viking axe by the bed if I need to whack someone. … My wife bought me a Viking axe – the axe side curls down so you can grab the adversary around the neck and you can use it to climb walls, as a grappling hook.’

Of course, yesterday after practice, Leach was asked to elaborate more on that Viking axe, to which he explains in the clip below that he "likes to piddle with it in front of the TV, particularly when the TV show Vikings comes back on."

You really can't make this kind of stuff up folks...