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After Parkland, What Now?

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So here we are again. A disturbed youth with a gun has attacked a school in Parkland, Florida and left 17 dead. Once again, we are asking, “What can we do?” Once again we engage in the argument over guns and the Second Amendment. There are those who think the answer is to get rid of guns. Then these things won’t happen. We can become like Sweden. (Or perhaps, I should say Sweden in the 20th century. They have their own problems now.)

It is easy to question why a 19-year-old with a history of trouble behind him is able to purchase an AR-15 as apparently is the case with the accused Florida shooter, Nikolas Cruz. It is a reasonable question. I am all for any means of screening out people who should not be able to buy or own guns due to their criminal history or mental state. This applies to gun licenses, registration, concealed carry permits, what have you. But not even that will solve the problem.

Let’s take the issue to its extreme. Let’s say Congress does away with the Second Amendment. Let’s say all firearms are banned from sale or possession. Just like heroin, guns are declared illegal. Let’s say that all registered firearms owners in the country are directed to turn in their weapons within 30 days. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that every one of them complies. Problem solved? Hardly.

The biggest problem is the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or more criminals who are running around with guns, mostly illegally owned. They are not going to turn them in. They will keep them and will be emboldened by the prospect of all those defenseless potential victims out there. We will be at their mercy. In short, we will live in an even more dangerous country. How do I know this? Where is the academic study to support me? What is my source for this idea?

Common Sense.com.

We are what we are- a country with a long frontier past and use of guns. There are an estimated 300,000,000 firearms of varying sorts in our country. We have a large criminal population. There are  no simple answers.

We could start by enforcing the laws we have. We could drastically increase the penalties for using a gun in the commission of a crime instead of using it as a plea bargaining chip. Sentences for using a gun in commission of a crime should become draconian.

We also need to realize this is largely a mental health issue. We could consider increasing the powers of the state to intervene and commit mentally unstable people. We could consider increasing the power of the state to intervene when disturbing social media messages indicate someone is at risk of exploding. I say this as one who is against increasing governmental powers. Yet, there is a difference between an oppressive government that gives itself unlimited powers for purposes of simply maintaining its power and powers used to save innocent lives.

These are just thoughts not concrete proposals because, like you, I don’t have the answer.


Source: http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2018/02/after-parkland-what-now.html


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