Put universal background checks and red-flagging of mental illness on the back burner. Those ideas are made of cotton-candy and would be just as effective in preventing mass shootings, even if our NRA-controlled Congress could get around to effectuating them, or wanted to.
The only thing that will end the epidemic of mass death by gunshot wound in this country is a federal ban on semi-automatic weapons. There's nothing else to say, no other discussion to be had.
Seriously, how hard would that be? Pass one law banning the possession of semi-automatic assault weapons. Give owners a few months to get rid of their outlawed guns. And throw in a generous government buy-back of the guns. That is what Australia did in 1996 after a man killed 35 people in a matter of minutes with an AR-15, and since then there has not been another mass shooting in Australia. It's what New Zealand did after that country's first mass shooting this past March. There has not been another mass shooting in New Zealand since then; however there have been four mass shootings in the United States since then: in Virginia Beach in May; in Gilroy, California in July; and in El Paso and Dayton in August. And these shootings would be so easy to stop. Our law-makers have the power in their hands. But in the meantime my daughter is terrified that her young children might be caught in a mass shooting at their school or in some other public place. And how can I calm her fears or console her when I, too, am terrified that my grand children might be caught in a mass shooting? I fear for my grand children, my children, my husband, my friends, everyone that love, everyone that I know, myself included. Even yesterday morning as I was sitting in Panera with my friends as I do every Wednesday morning, having a pleasant time, I looked around at all the tables and booths crowded with people who also appeared to be having a pleasant time, eating, drinking, chatting with each other; and instead of thinking to myself, "What a wonderful world," I thought to myself, "What a lot of people would be killed if a guy with an AR-15 came in here." A question for anyone who would oppose a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons: Do you, too, not fear for yourself and your loved ones? Reference
https://fortune.com/2018/02/20/australia-gun-control-success/ https://www.npr.org/2019/04/10/711820023/new-zealand-passes-law-banning-most-semi-automatic-weapons
2 Comments
8/12/2019 05:16:45 am
I enjoyed reading your book, especially since I lived in the Philadelphia area for 2 years.
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Patti
8/12/2019 06:28:51 am
Dear Ms. Schwartz,
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"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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