The national news Monday opened with headlines about a dozen mass shootings over the weekend in the United States making it 692 such events in the last year.
When are our lawmakers going to do anything about strengthening firearm regulations?
Congress is back from recess, but odds are universal background checks and other reasonable measures will only get lip service with the same old excuses discussed in the following commentary coming into play.
A friend of mine shared this and I think it is worth considering!
I skimmed a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed. It backhandedly denigrated gun control, then said remedies like extended background checks and raising age limits won’t work. That improved mental health was what was needed.
What the WSJ (has just) said is we shouldn’t do good things because they aren’t perfect. This has long been a tactic of opposition groups when trying to shape public opinion; let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Why does an opposition group support the perfect remedy?
(Because) They know perfection can never be achieved, thus leaving the status quo in place.
Of course, this is BS. We shouldn’t avoid doing the good just because it’s not perfect.
If tighter background checks save one life, they’re worth doing. If older age limits save one life, they’re worth doing.
I would like to ask Mitch McConnell if that one life that could be saved now, should that life be sacrificed because sometime in the future we will have that perfect psych test that will qualify someone to own a gun.
Obviously, if the need to be perfect was the rule we wouldn’t be using seat belts.
My thinking is we need to demand our representatives be heard on “common sense” gun control issues – be advocates in their caucus, sponsor the bill, and make a public declaration while respecting the 2nd Amendment.
Do you know the largest number of gun deaths each year are from suicides?
Responsible gun storage requirements including trigger locks seem reasonable along with raising the age to buy guns.
Permit laws including “Red Flag Laws” are an effective way to reduce gun violence and background checks are of course needed along with more emphasis on research on reducing violence and on mental health concerns too.
Please, elected officials don’t avoid doing good because it isn’t perfect. We need to do more “good” before Emporia is mentioned in one of these reports about weekend events!
I’m Steve Sauder
