The late and great John Lennon, the victim of an assassins bullet in front of the Dakota was singing to me today and it sounded like this, "All we are saying is give 'Gun Control' a chance ... Yah everybody, All we are saying is give 'Gun Control' a chance..." If there is a heaven and I believe there is, I hope the victims of the Newtown’s slaughter are close to Mr. Lennon and can find comfort in his company.
It's clear now that many of the children slaughtered there, had a last view of life of a 'Gun' barrel at close range staring them in the face; before their brains were blow all over the room. As ghastly as that image is I'm also horrified by the needless images that await us if we fail to seize upon every possibility to stop gun violence in America that legislation affords us.
Senator Charles Schumer counseled the left today on the fact that a 2nd Amendment exists in our country. Did anyone forget that a 2nd Amendment exists in our Country? If anyone had that notion the NRA would happily remind us Senator Schumer. Advocates of 'Gun Control' do not seek to eliminate the 2nd Amendment, they just don't see how advocating for 'Gun Control' to avoid tragedies like the one that occurred in Newtown, Ct., implies we want to eliminate the 2nd Amendment or deny hunters and other gun owners their Constitutional Rights. The truth is we just want to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't own them in the first place. The regulated distribution of fire arms in America, clearly needs to be refined and licensing requirements to own and keep fire arms need to be toughened. The ribald right has no trouble toughening voter registration laws, so let's encourage them to be just as open minded, about gun control laws.
Why is it that we keep hearing from those who are over the top partisan, about gun ownership and the 2nd amendment and who seem to see regulating guns and the people who own those guns as the problem? The problem is that too many unstable people have access to firearms, without the necessary regulations, or gun counseling programs in place that can only help to avoid tragedy. No it’s not a full proof way to avoid future tragedy, but it may help cut the number of tragedies down in the future. It’s not going to take guns out of the hands of hunters, etc. The second Amendment is here to stay, but what's wrong with controlling how and when guns are purchased, and evaluating people's mental stability to determine if their is a risk, to their community and themselves on an ongoing basis?
A license renewal program with the mandatory psychological testing of gun owners would be a very good start. We need to have programs that help to prevent people with violent backgrounds and psych histories from owning guns, especially if they're already judged to be a danger to society. The problem with the NRA is that they lobby our Representatives, and then say that any new restrictions on gun sales or ownership is an ‘assault’ on the 2nd Amendment, while they show little concern for the potential for more ‘assaults’ by crazed gun owners on society. Let's begin to pass stricter gun laws now for all our safety, including the safety of law abiding gun owners, who might not be carrying a weapon when a crazed killer appears with one.
Mike Flynn 'Middle Class Mike'