I conflate the two now.
In the past, I’ve written about Memorial Day and our
soldiers who have died defending our country, although lamenting about how
we’ve turned it into a sales “holiday” for mattresses and cars.
That should be the worst of it. Now we should also remember our teachers and
students who have “fallen in battle” thanks to the NRA and our so called
leadership acting as a facilitator.
The most recent shooting at a Santa Fe, TX school was not
with an automatic weapon but an equally deadly hand gun and shotgun.
These guns were taken from the shooter’s father.
It brings up the obvious question of responsibility. Should the father be held liable? Or society?
Both of course.
Just so I get statistics right, I turn to Fact Check: In general, the overall number of people
(31) and the number of students (26) killed in school shootings through 18 May
2018 was greater than the number of military personnel killed in combat zones
(13). If all military deaths (including accidental training deaths) are
counted, then that number (42) exceeds the total number of school shooting
deaths (31).
But the precise numbers are irrelevant. Gun violence, now prevalent in our schools,
is intolerable in a civilized society. Any society. All these weapons were "born to kill."
I’ve now written dozens of times about gun control and in
particular the need to outlaw military type weapons, institute stringent background
checks, age limits, etc., all the usual ideas and have seen the usual push
backs to the same.
I’ve also (not uniquely) suggested that firearms be
regulated in the same way automobiles are, requiring registration and tracking
when one is sold.
I go back to this argument as it is more of a total solution
than any others.
There are of course persuasive arguments against the
bureaucracy of establishing a Federal or State system of a “Bureau of Firearms
Control.” Expensive. Loss of freedom, Big brother watching, etc. etc. But we tolerate those for automobiles, which
also includes testing, insurance, inspection, etc. We do so for the greater good of society. We establish laws governing their use and
prosecute when those laws are broken, even by generally “law abiding
citizens.” Gun ownership advocates make virtual
talking robot arguments that gun laws only hurt the “good” people while “evil”
ones ignore them and thus, we should have fewer gun laws. Talk about circular logic.
We take off our shoes at airports because someone tried
to blow up a plane with a shoe. My constitutional rights allow me to wear
shoes!
Annual gun deaths are now approaching those caused by
motor vehicle incidents (the latter declining and the former steadily increasing).
Getting to the difficult part, implementation.
First, indeed institute stringent background checks, age limit
laws, and ban the use of military style weapons.
Secondly, as Congress now sees fit to increase our
national debt, go further and institute a Federal program for buying back weapons
voluntarily surrendered, with higher premiums for military style weapons. Pay fair price. Return them no questions asked for a specified
grace period.
Those choosing to keep their weapons, and those buying
new ones, must register them with renewals required. If the registered weapon is given or sold to
another, forms have to be completed, the item identified, with the new owner’s
name and address. Then the new owner has
30 days to register them. Registration
fees will support the process.
Gradually a data base will be developed and ones who have
a collection of weapons, an arsenal, would be identified and flagged as
dealers, subject to another level of scrutiny and regulatory control.
This is complicated stuff and the devil is in the
details.
Indeed, some (especially the “bad guys”) will ignore all
of this, but they will be subject to prosecution if found with unregistered weapons,
or if someone is found with an unregistered weapon purchased or given by
them. It will take time, maybe decades, to
work through this group. It has to start
sometime.
And while more regulatory control and knowledge of our
lives is abhorrent to me, something has to be started NOW and a more
comprehensive solution needs to be sought by our lawmakers. No more Sandy Hooks, Parklands, Santa Fes. Now. Please.
We don’t even hear much anymore about thoughts and
prayers regarding the latest incident.
It’s as if we’ve all become inured to them. That strategy never did work. We have heard enhanced rhetoric about turning
our schools into heavily armed prisons.
Is that really preferable to a “Bureau of Firearms Control?”
Yes, we must always remember those who died to defend our
nation on Memorial Day, but think of our teachers and students who now face a
war zone in schools. We need to defend
them from NRA’s agenda, cloaked in the sacred shroud of the 2nd
amendment. None of this takes away one’s
right to bear arms, only military style weapons and makes other weapons subject
to registration in the same way we regulate motor vehicles.
And here is a letter from the 4th grade
Grandson of a friend of ours which he wrote to President Trump crying out for
humane leadership. Is there any better
message this Memorial Day?
