Gun control should no longer be the topic of “conversation,” “dialogue” or “debate.” There’s been enough of that verbal hand-wringing after every incident of gun-slaughter. The hot-topic words then dissipate into inaction – until the next shooter goes crazy and kills more people.
Instead, gun control should be the topic of immediate legislative action. The U.S. Congress must tighten gun laws and it must do it now. The hideous slaughter of 20 precious children in Connecticut by yet another deranged gunman is the final straw. Enough is enough. Something must be done. Now! Not later.
The sale of assault weapons must be banned, the sale of multi-bullet clips must be limited or banned, and gun shows must be forced to run a background check of every customer and/or be fined or put out of business.
Gun proponents will argue the gunman who killed the children was using guns purchased legally by his mother, which means, ironically, he killed her with one of her own guns before murdering children and adults at the school. Be that as it may, the time is now to act against the insane proliferation of guns and ammunition in this gun-crazed society.
Hunting, target shooting, legitimate gun-collecting as a hobby, guns for self-protection – all well and fine. But there is absolutely no need to make available assault weapons and multi-ammo clips which allow these twisted fiends to kill so many people in a matter of seconds.
We keep hearing that lame old excuse: “If he’s elected, he’ll take our huntin’ guns away!” How many decades have we heard that nonsense, and yet some hunters who still have all their hunting guns intact are still giving voice to that tiresome old line. And, of course, that “line” (read “lie”) is heavily promulgated by the leadership of the National Rifle Association, one of the biggest lobbying groups in United States history. The NRA has blackmail power over virtually every candidate for office. If a candidate even mentions the subject of gun control, the NRA and its followers ramp up efforts to defeat that candidate. As a result, a muzzling cowardice silences just about every senator and congressperson.
The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the “Right to Bear Arms,” is definitely an American right. But, like just about every right we have, it is not an unlimited right. For instance, freedom of speech does not allow us to yell fire in a crowded movie theater or to incite riots with inflammatory language. The right (and privilege) to drive does not allow us to speed or drive in the wrong lane. The notion the “Right to Bear Arms” means a lunatic proliferation of deadly assault weapons is a ludicrous presumption, and it’s one that should be squelched once and for all.
These lobbyists who work so tirelessly against reasonable, vitally necessary restrictions on guns and gun ownership should be ashamed of themselves. They should join the ranks of so many Americans trying mightily to make our country – and all of its children – safer by limiting this contemptible proliferation of guns, guns, guns.
Gun control, of course, won’t stop all violence, but the proper kind of gun control – especially a ban on assault weapons – would go a long way to helping make us all safer.
Let’s contact our legislators and insist they vote for gun-control measures that have long been proposed but that have been languishingly defeated because of the ever-present gun lobby.