From Steve McNair to the Carolina serial killer: reducing gun violence
The latest news reports that former NFL quarterback Steve McNair, was shot by his 20 year old lover. According to a CNN report, the gun that killed McNair was purchased by Sahel Kazemi who was allegedly in a romantic relationship with him. A spokesman for the Nashville police said that “he didn't know whether it was a legal purchase but noted that Kazemi wouldn't meet the age requirement for a permit to carry a handgun, which is 21.”
While this drama unfolded, police reported that the South Carolina serial killer was killed while attempting to burglarize a home in North Carolina. .jpg)
As the NRA loves to say it--'guns don't kill people--people do'. It's true, if there were no people and only guns, people wouldn't be killing each other. It's only logical--rid the world of people and gun violence will stop!
What to do about the people? What to do not only about those who take the bullet but those who pull the trigger? To shoot or not to shoot, this is the question.
God forbid we would allow the evidence to cloud our thinking.
According to the National Educational Association Health Information Network (EAHIN) :
Every day, more than 80 Americans die from gun violence.
The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined.
American kids are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from a firearm accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined.
Let's put it another way--guns don't kill people--but disproportionately, Americans kill and are killed with guns.
If only more Americans would take gun safety courses, the problem would be solved--says the NRA. Tell that to Steve McNair's family. Comfort the families of the victims in South Carolina by giving them a free course on gun safety.
Isn't it time to move beyond the rhetoric of gun rights to a rational discussion of gun responsibility? Without responsibility freedom is reduced to a narcissistic free-for-all
Isn't time for the gun lobby to admit that personal freedom must be tempered by a little social responsibility?
Wouldn't it be great if progressive American cowboys got together and formed an American chapter of Cowboys for Social Responsibility (CSR)?
CSR could first take up the issue of unregulated gun shows.
For some time now, The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence has advocated for background checks in the purchase of all guns. In April, New Jersey senator Frank Lautenberg and others in the Senate argued one more time that personal guns sellers should be required to make background checks on gun purchasers.
More than 30 states do not require background checks from sellers at private shows. “There is no rational reason to oppose closing the loophole,” said Lautenberg, “The reason it’s still not closed is simple: the continuing power of the special interest gun lobby in Washington.”
Bills like Lautenberg’s have passed the Senate twice before but have failed to pass the House because of pressure from gun lobbying organizations like the National Rifle Association.
The gun lobby argues that “requiring background checks on the personal sale of firearms, saying that such mandates could extend into gun deals that take place in the homes of Americans, which would infringe on the gun rights spelled out in the Second Amendment. “
Where does the Second Amendment of the constitution say that a minor or someone with a history of mental illness shouldn’t be subject to a background check when purchasing a gun?
Will this solve the problem of gun violence. Of course not. It is here that it helps to heed the advice of Andrew Jackson who said,"elevate those guns a little lower”.
It’s time to figuratively aim those guns a little lower. By requiring background checks on everyone who purchases a gun, eventually fewer people will get shot.
This is a no brainer. If guns don't kill people then let's do something about people who are too young or too unstable to own one. For starters, close the gun show loophole.
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From Steve McNair to the Carolina serial killer: reducing gun violence
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