MORE ON GUNS
Three things happened to me
today concerning guns. First, I was
cleaning out old files and came across a clipping from the Sacramento Bee on
Sunday December 13, 2015 after the San Bernardino killings, written by Mr.
Garen Wintemute. The title “End to gun
killings requires our passion and Persistence.” He pointed out the shootings at Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Sandy
Hook and San Bernardino resulted in 97 deaths not counting the shooters. He went on to point out that in the 10 years
ending in 2013 we lost 89 people PER DAY to firearm homicide and suicide. In the same 10 year period we lost more
civilians to firearm violence than we lost in combat in World War II—more than
we lost in combat during all other conflicts in our nations history. I have to ask, when do these kinds of figures
begin to sink in to our thinking. My own
father committed suicide using an WW II 45 caliber pistol. I refuse to have a handgun in the house for fear
I’ll injure myself or one of my family.
SECOND: The Bee carried an
article today “Australia Law may offer US a Lesson.” Australia passed a law in 1996 following a
mass murder of 35 people and wounding of 19 others. They passed the National Firearm Agreement,
banned with a mandatory buyback of semi-automatic rifles like those used
recently in the US. They bought back
thousands of rifles and handguns. Since
then there hasn’t been a single mass shooting of more than 5 people. Is Australia safer? Who knows, but in my view the results speak
for themselves. THIRD, the House
Democrats staged a sit in trying to force the Republicans to vote on the gun
issue. What goes around comes
around. Obama has only himself to blame. He forced Obama Care through congress without ONE Republican vote. The Republicans got the message immediately
that dealing with Obama and the democrats was going to be bare knuckle
politics.
HOWEVER, reason has to
prevail for the good of the country and the Republicans need to compromise and
reach a satisfactory conclusion to this gun problem. The NRA is in an untenable position.
Thank you Dick for your candor, honesty and thoughtful comments. I greatly appreciate your balanced perspective and ability to be logical, which is greatly lacking from both poplars of our political divide. However, I disagree that President Obama is to blame for yet another republican congressional showdown. In this case, it is abundantly clear that the republicans are beholden to the NRA and their (NRAs) largesse. Please remember, the NRA is currently the richest lobby in the USA.
ReplyDelete*polars not poplars. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with my cousin Susan. Obama's mission on pursuing some type of gun legislation has fallen on deaf ears. The gun rights advocates will have all kinds of ways to twist the Australian story, but they will never be right. The facts in the story today speak for themselves. Eliminate the assault rifles, and you have suddenly reduced mass killings. PERIOD. There is no way around that fact. The other fact that is alarming from the story is this one: The analysis of the Australian situation found that there were 13 mass shootings (defined as 5 or more people killed) in the 17 years prior to the passage of the NFA in 1996, since then, there has not been a single mass killing. In the US, there have been 11 mass shootings/killings this year alone! And 33 mass killings that meet the 5 or more people killed definition since 2014. It is unbelievable that the American public puts up with this nonsense. Utter nonsense. I blame the gutless, do-nothing United States Congress for not taking action, for not doing what is just plain right. Don't pull President Obama into this one Dad. That's just wrong. Our political leaders have no guts.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans will never support meaningful gun control legislation -- they are bought and paid for by the NRA, and they need to make sure the gun-lovers turn out to vote.
ReplyDeleteIn Idaho, the NRA doesn't even care about the politician's positions on gun control. They only support Republicans.
ReplyDelete