Again. 30 times this year. A school shooting. Let the hand wringing begin.
How is it that young boys, not quite men, think that expressing themselves with a firearm is the thing to do? Why do so many of our citizens, at any age, feel the need to solve an issue with a firearm? Why is this NOT a public health crisis? Where are the furrowed brows of the Right-to-Life brigade? They want the unborn to survive yet they blindly support THE SECOND AMMENDMENT and the death penalty and say little to nothing about slaughtered school children.
There seems to be no answer to these questions and, I am sure that there are many more questions that I haven’t asked, and there are no ready answers to those either.
One of the reasons for this happening is the climate of US vs THEM rampant in this country. Another is the normalization of violence (particularly gun-violence) in the media. TV, Video games, Movies, and social media. If the theme is not wildly sci-fi or magical, it is shooting someone who, through story manipulations “richly deserves” to be killed. It is a massive RED-FLAG when a person abuses and kills animals. That person, often a child, should never have access to firearms. (That does not preclude hunting for the meat, trophy hunting, to me, is abhorrent.)
What if you needed to be twenty-one or older to buy ammunition in certain calibers? What if we banned the gratuitous violence from the media? Years ago, Jack Vallenti who was some high muckedy-muck in the film industry testified before congress that it was not gratuitous violence in films, but a depiction of real life in America. Sadly prophetic.
Other countries allow firearm ownership and have much less to NO mass shootings. Australia and New Zealand have banned private ownership of military grade firearms because they were not immune to shootings but, they took a good look at the situation and then acted.
When the “assault weapons ban” was allowed to sunset, mass shootings and sales jumped exponentially. Certain lobbyists should be banned. We don’t need firearm manufacturers lobbying congress just like we don’t need the porn industry lobbying nor big Pharma. The results are not conducive to peaceful, healthy progress for our society.
I own firearms. I have a concealed carry permit. My guns stay locked up unless I am going to the range. Our legislatures must step-up and pass laws that are sensible within the parameters of the second amendment. (The second amendment, like other aspects of the constitution needs to be modernized)
BRADY W. KEISTER
Chair Gun Owners Caucus
Candidate Oregon House District 3
May 26, 2022 @ 2:22 pm
I am a Brit. I am also an American citizen. We love living in Merlin and that is an understatement. There are so many aspects of a modern America that we admire. And yet (and you knew there was a ‘yet’ coming along) there are some facts of American life that we hate with all our hearts. The ease with which people of all ages and of all temperaments can obtain firearms is top of this list. Will it change? I very much doubt it. But one can hope!