When Will We Ever Learn?

(Kevork Djansezian/Reuters)

Once again, we watch the TV images in horror at the lives at risk -- not in some foreign country, but in our own United States. This time in California, which has some of the strictest gun laws in America. More lives lost or injured forever. While our Congress squabbles over how many troops to send into Iraq and Syria, in order to assist in obtaining peace, the citizens of our country are suffering acts of terror with guns obtained legally in their home states. When will Congress do something about the existing gun laws throughout the land? The NRA must share the responsibility for these mass shootings with assault weapons that they pressure our Congressional leaders to continue to allow to be sold to the general public. Many without background checks at all, such as at Gun Shows. I say ban the assault weapons, period. Ban the high capacity magazines as well.

I hear gun rights' advocates and Congressmen -- especially the GOP -- keep saying stricter gun laws won't help, that most mass killings are carried out by mentally incompetent citizens. That we should be screening purchasers of weapons for such illnesses and refuse to sell to them. There is no way to tell if someone buying a gun is a "sociopath", which is how an analyst described the gunman in California. Many more types of "mental illness" that might cause someone to conduct such a raid are not easily detectable either. What are we to do? Will there be a list of anyone who sees a mental health provider available to anyone selling weapons? Will a seller be required to discriminate when it comes to a purchaser's race or religion? After all, if he appears mid-eastern, could he be a terrorist? 

All of this needs to be addressed. America leads the world in mass killings. We only hear of the public ones that hit the national news. "Data compiled by the crowd-sourced website ShootingTracker.com reveals a shocking human toll: there is a mass shooting – defined as four or more people shot in one incident – nearly every day (in the United States). (Updated on 3 Dec 2015)" "1,052 mass shootings in 1,066 days.." (The Guardian.com)

Not only have we not strengthened gun laws in the United States, but many states have passed Open Carry laws. The backlash from the recent act of terror in California may result in even more such laws. What will we eventually see? Wild West shoot-outs on our streets? When will our country do what so many countries have done, and strengthen our gun laws to reduce the amount of homicides we suffer every year? Doing away with assault weapons and high-capacity magazines would be a good start.

Peace,

Marilyn