Gun Control Solutions
Forty-nine reasons all in a line
All of them good ones …
All of them lies
—Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
One can only wonder how repeating talking points seen or heard on Fox Entertainment or Newsmax solves anything. We’ve heard it all before: an armed resource, security guards, fences, one entrance, mental-health screening, social media, and diverting COVID relief funds (in spite of COVID being the cause of more than one million deaths in the U.S.). In the span of 24 hours, Fox offered 49 such “solutions” to the epidemic of gun violence. For a complete list, see the article by Walter Einenkel at Daily Kos. Some seem ludicrous or even made up (martial law, armed teachers and students, faith and prayer), but they’re all on videotape. Seriously.
This all makes sense only if one refuses to let these inconvenient facts get in the way. (1) There were armed security guards at the supermarket in Buffalo, NY, and the elementary school in Uvalde, TX. (2) Armed police soon arrived on the respective scenes. But, in each case, they were outgunned by individuals with more powerful, deadlier weapons. (3) Fences can easily be scaled by a determined intruder. (4) One entrance also means one exit. This would put potential victims in even greater danger. For the perpetrator, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. (5) The Uvalde gunman was able to legally buy AR assault rifles on his 18th birthday in spite of a history of mental illness. (FYI: The new Texas gun law prohibits background checks). (6) There is virtually unlimited access to social media and violent video games in many other countries, but only in the U.S. do we experience one gruesome mass killing after another.
Background checks should be a requirement for all gun sales. The sale or purchase of assault weapons should be banned entirely. Period. (But some are more comfortable banning books instead!) Thoughts and prayers will not comfort the grieving, nor will they prevent future tragedies. How many more innocents must fall before sensible gun laws are enacted? That is the only real solution.