ENOUGH!

And it has happened again, this time at a community college in Roseburg, Oregon.  Ten are dead, seven are wounded.

I am sick of American gun violence, and outraged by the NRA and the gun nuts who defend the awful status quo on behalf of their precious "rights." 

Since the Sandy Hook massacre, there have been 142 school shootings -- nearly one a week.  Just schools.  And schools usually means kids.

This year, an average of 36 Americans have been killed by guns every single day.  Too many people have come to accept this as normal.  It is not normal.  If you think it's normal, you are part of the problem.

Our country has two really big problems with firearms.  Solving them will take time and strength of character.  It will be a long process, not an event.

1.  It's much too easy to get a gun, and it's easy to get one too quickly.  Obviously, this is true for the mentally disturbed, but it's also true for everybody.  We're talking about lethal weapons designed for the sole purpose of killing, and capable of doing so instantly.  Instead of quick and easy, we need to slow things down drastically.  We need painstaking, time-consuming, ultra-thorough criminal and psychological background checks on every gun purchase.  You have no right to instant ownership.

2.  We possess way, way too many guns in this country.  Per capita, no other nation in the world comes close.  Americans own almost half of the world's civilian firearms.  Naturally, we're tops in gun violence.  We've created our own domestic terrorism issue.  If you think that there is nothing we can do about our excessive number of guns, or worse, you think there's nothing we should do, you're part of the problem.  If you think even more guns is a good idea, you're part of the problem.

Our stupid weapons build-up took time.  A significant reduction in the number of firearms in circulation will take time too.  Here are some ideas to thin the lethal herd.

• Federal registration of every single gun you currently possess, with fees.
• Low limits on the number of guns allowed for personal possession/use.
• Government buy-backs and other financial incentives to encourage weapons turn-ins.
• High prices and high sales taxes on the purchase of guns and ammo.
• Annual personal property tax on every gun possesssed, at a substantial tax rate.
• Heavy fines and criminal penalties for those in non-compliance.

And, oh yeah.  We may need to repeal the 2nd Amendment -- a 224-year old, single-sentence trainwreck of syntax.  Stop treating it like Holy Writ, and replace it with words that actually make sense and fit the times.

If you're an elected official in Washington D.C., you missed a golden opportunity to start this process in the wake of Sandy Hook.  Your inaction then was shameful.  Don't make the same mistake twice.  Stop being part of the problem.  Show some courage and be part of the solution.
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Sent the above to Sen. Rob Portman and Rep. Pat Tiberi, for what little good it will do.


[Regular readers will recognize this as a frequent topic/complaint from Buster.  Funny how that works, and I wish it wasn't so.  Here's a link an older post on the same subject -- a little over the top, but I still like it.]

http://bustergammons.blogspot.com/2011/01/sensible-gun-policy.html