October 8, 2015
Column #1,780
A Case for Gun Control
By Mike McManus
America has a blind spot on the issue of gun control. This is a nation with
more than 300 million guns and annual sales of 3.5 million costing $11 billion.
The Roseburg, Oregon massacre was the 142th school shooting since the Sandy Hook
slaughter and the 294th mass shooting this year.
When an assassin tried to kill President Reagan he also shot Jim Brady, his
press secretary. A "Brady Campaign" was launched to require background checks of
those who purchase guns to be sure they were not criminals or mentally
disturbed.
A law was passed and signed by President Clinton that has forbidden sales to 2.4
million dangerous people. However, 40% of gun sales are not covered –
particularly those sold in 5,400 "gun shows," which allow instant purchase of
weapons.
After the massacre in Oregon that killed 9 students plus the killer, President
Obama said that given the frequency of mass shootings, people had "become numb
to this. And what's become routine is the response of those who oppose any kind
of common-sense gun legislation…`We need more guns,' they'll argue. Fewer gun
safety laws."
He's right. After the Sandy Hook massacre of 20 children and six adults, he
proposed there ought to be universal background checks. Congress rejected them,
which Obama called "shameful."
With each massacre since, Obama's anger grew, but this time he did not announce
any new initiative, but simply noted there is a gun for "every man, woman and
child in America. So how can you with a straight face make the argument that
more guns will make us safer?"
He noted that after mine disasters, government insists on safer mines.
"When Americans are killed in floods and hurricanes, we make communities
safer...We have seatbelt laws because we know it saves lives."
He asked news organizations to tally the number of Americans killed by terrorist
attacks over the last decade compared to the number killed by domestic gun
violence. And he implicitly compared the trillions of dollars spent to prevent
the relatively few terrorism deaths with the minimal effort and money spent to
prevent the far greater number of gun deaths.
Since the 9/11 attack, fewer than 100 Americans have died in terrorist attacks
compared to 150,000 who have been murdered in gun attacks.
A Pew Research poll reported in July that 71% of Republicans said protecting the
constitutional right to bear arms was more important than gun control. Among
Democrats, the numbers were exactly reversed.
"The politics has to change," Obama said in the aftermath of the Oregon
shooting. "People who are troubled by this have to be as intense and as
organized and as adamant about this issue as folks on the other side."
It is not often that I agree with President Obama, but in this case, he is
right.
What I found particularly horrific in the Oregon case was that the student
killer asked, "Are you a Christian? And if you are a Christian, stand up." When
they did, he said, "Good. Because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in
just about one second." Then he shot them in the head. Others were only wounded
in an arm or a leg.
Sen. Chuck Schumer introduced legislation to prevent weapons from falling into
the hands of such hateful evil doers and the mentally ill. His bill would
financially reward states which "submit all necessary records into the
background check system," and penalize those who do not.
Strengthening background checks is supported by 87% of gun owners according to a
2012 poll by Republican pollster Frank Luntz. That is an essential first step.
Many other steps are needed:
- Expand the types of people prohibited from buying firearms such as those with
mental illness.
- Keep a central database of gun sales and inventories to identify gun dealers,
5% of whom are gun traffickers with sales to criminals responsible for most gun
deaths.
- Ban sales of assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
- New guns should be more childproof, and parents must lock up weapons that are
now insecure in 1.7 million homes.
- A three-day waiting period for gun purchases would reduce suicides, which
account for two-thirds of America's 32,000 gun deaths.
- All threats of self-harm must be taken seriously. If a person appears
suicidal, urge them to call 1-800-273-TALK, a suicide prevention line. Or you do
so. Such initiatives could save 10,000 lives.
It is high time to reduce America's gun deaths. |
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