Now Is The Time For Gun Control

Now Is The Time To Talk Gun Control

by Bill Gouveia for the Sun Chronicle

Yep — it’s another column about gun control, or the national lack of same. I’m warning those who don’t want to read any more about the need to stop people from possessing military-style weapons that kill hundreds in just seconds – stop now. Because I’m not going to stop until we start to actually do something.

There’s been another mass shooting. In a church. By a former Air Force member who was dishonorably discharged after spending time in military jail for domestic violence against his wife and children. Who, after that, was still able to “legally” buy several dangerous guns because the current flawed system failed us all once again.

You know, that system that we don’t need to improve. The one that is a waste of time. We can’t work on making it better, making it stronger, because “it’s not time to talk about gun control right now.”

Such pure, unadulterated crap. Such absolute cowardice in the face of real danger. Such negligent disregard for the lives of all of us. And so very, very wrong.

Now. Now is the time to talk about common sense gun control. Right now. Not tomorrow, not after the mid-term elections, not at the beginning of the next Congress. Now – as quickly and seriously as we can, before more innocent lives are lost simply because of politics and the “tough guy/girl image” we like to put forth.

We have more guns in this country than any other nation. Yet we act like it is some kind of coincidence we also have one of the highest gun-related murder rates on the planet. We register almost every car in this country, and require people to pass tests before allowing them to drive. Yet for some unthinkably stupid reason, we fail to keep as close an eye on weapons that have made us the “Mass Murder By Gun” capital of the world.

If we can’t talk about gun control now, when the hell can we talk about it? We didn’t get any major improvements in the law after school children were shot down in Sandy Hook. If the shooting of small children in Connecticut and Texas, in schools and churches, isn’t enough to have that discussion — what will be?

If the shooting of some 500 people at a Las Vegas concert, near a natural gas facility, wasn’t enough to start the debate on gun control, I guess it is easy to understand why this also would not be. But it still doesn’t answer the question – when will it be time?

Our President was outraged when football players quietly knelt during the national anthem. He called them names, he wanted them fired, he threatened the league that employs them.

But after yet another mass shooting, on the heels of the Las Vegas murders, he insists once again it is “too early” to discuss gun control. He points out — quite correctly — that a lawful gun owner helped stop the Texas killings from being an even bigger tragedy.

But the heroic actions of that individual do not change the obvious need to better regulate dangerous weapons, and provide better nationwide screening of those buying guns. The killer in Texas had a criminal record in the military, and a history of mental illness. Yet the military failed to report it. He was apparently prevented from buying a gun in one state, but merely had to go to another and use one of the loopholes our lawmakers refuse to close.

Why in the world would we not want to stop him and others from gaining access to these weapons? What is wrong with us as a people? Is our country seriously more upset about football players and the national anthem than it is about keeping guns away from those who are unstable?

President Trump can’t talk credibly about “extreme vetting” until he applies it to those buying guns. Every legislator who avoids this topic is a disgrace and a coward.

Stop saying this isn’t about guns. We can work on mental health issues, we can strengthen law enforcement. But all that will fail unless and until we also stand up to the NRA and others, and do all we can to keep guns out of the hands of the irresponsible.

Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and a longtime local official. He can be emailed at billsinsidelook@aol.com and followed on Twitter at @Billinsidelook.