When is it time to talk
and act? We are told it is too
soon. Members of Congress and State
Legislators are complicit in the death of schoolchildren across the land if
they do not act. Now is the time!
Let’s be sure we
understand why there is never a good time to talk about gun violence, why
nothing has changed... It is because of
the millions upon millions of dollars that the gun lobby – manufacturers and
NRA – pour into the campaign coffers of our leaders. Campaign contributors expect their paid
minions to vote the way they want them to vote. When the Speaker of the House receives
hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the NRA, he
feels duty bound to say that it is too early to talk about guns.
The Second Amendment does
not guarantee every citizen the right to carry assault type weapons. Those weapons are designed to kill people not
wild game. We all know what kind of guns
we need for hunting. No self-respecting
hunter would take an A-15 into the woods in search of a deer. The 30-30 carbine or 306 rifles works just
fine. A 12-gauge pump-action works just
fine for duck and partridges.
The Second Amendment does
not guarantee that mentally unstable people should be able to purchase weapons.
And yet… and yet, last
year Congress repealed a law that allowed mentally ill persons to be listed in
the background check database. Senator
Grassley, who championed the repeal, was seen on television on February 15,
2018, wondering why mentally ill people were able to own guns. The hypocrisy is palpable.
The Psalmist wonders
aloud and we should too: How long O Lord?
How long before the hypocrisy ends? How long before people demand that something
needs to be done? Why can’t we have laws
similar to other countries? Laws that
work! Laws that reduce death from guns
to the rare few!
Gun Control, by itself. isn’t the answer. Hunters should be able to hunt and families
should be able to protect themselves if they feel the need. But, we can rewrite the HIPPA laws to allow
medical personnel and families to report the mentally ill. We can reduce gun clip size. We can reduce the number of cartridges
allowed per hunting gun. We can reduce
the number and types of handguns available for sale. None of these steps takes away Second
Amendment rights.
How long after Sandy Hook
is it OK to talk about and act on our national problem? Our national shame? Our national nightmare? This week we witnessed the 18th
school shooting since the beginning of 2018.
How Long O Lord?
