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Guns

As a nation we need to get beyond stale rhetoric and all the tired old arguments

With the killings at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs followed closely by the unspeakable violence Wednesday in San Bernadino, California, much public discourse has returned to guns, gun violence and gun control. On balance, it is not helpful.

What is needed is a new way of thinking and talking about gun violence that would allow us to get past the hackneyed slogans and arguments that have dominated the discussion for decades. Then perhaps we could actually do something about the thousands of Americans killed with guns every year.

And no, gun violence is not just a mental illness problem. Few mentally ill people are violent and most are more likely to be victims of violence. Most Americans would say killing 14 people for no discernible reason is insane, but most shootings are committed by people who have never been judged mentally ill.

What might be helpful is if public discourse could be grounded in facts and verifiable statistics. One clearly warranted step would be to end the 19-year-old rule that prohibits federal research into gun violence. Originally applied to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009, it was expanded to cover all Department of Health and Human Services agencies. Having hard numbers about guns and who misuses them how, when and where could go a long way toward finding ideas that could work – and avoiding laws that burden legitimate rights.

With that there should be an acknowledgment that all involved have valid concerns. Begin that part with the fact that gun owners have rights, which are neither limited to nor primarily tied to hunting. There is a Second Amendment and the Supreme Court has said it is not just about service in a militia. And, rightly or not, many gun owners are highly suspicious of anything they might perceive as limiting those rights.

Those facts deserve respect, but they do not trump the right of other Americans to live in peace. More than 30,000 people are killed with guns in the United States per year. There are now more guns than people in this country and as a nation we are averaging one mass shooting (defined as four or more casualties) per day. A week ago, on Black Friday, the U.S. set a new record with 185,000 gun-sale background checks. And, while it is true that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” – guns being inanimate objects, after all – the fact is that more often than not it is people with guns who kill people.

Many Americans have noticed all that and are fearful. Their concerns deserve respect as well.

By clearly and universally recognizing gun owners’ legitimate rights perhaps we could dispel some of the paranoia of some gun-rights advocates. Why not say it out loud? “They” – defined as you like – are not coming for law-abiding citizens’ guns. The question is simply how to better keep guns out of the hands of murderers.

Gun control advocates need to realize there is no simple regulatory fix to gun violence. Gun owners need to recognize that research or record keeping is not a prelude to confiscating their guns. And all concerned should drop the cliches we have all heard countless times before.



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