Easy gun access kills
Inquirer Editoral
Philadelphia Inquirer - 04/10/2009
With the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre approaching,
communities across the nation have relived the horror of what happens when
evil, paranoia, and madness mix with the ready availability of guns.
An appalling series of eight mass shootings has claimed at least 57 lives in
recent weeks. On Saturday, three Pittsburgh police officers were slain by a
man wielding an AK-47. The day before, a suicidal gunman took the lives of
13 civilians in Binghamton, N.Y., before shooting himself. Domestic disputes
led to other massacres in which children were cut down.
Experts believe the nation's economic woes are a factor underlying some of
the latest violence. But easy access to fearsome arsenals enables killers to
wreak carnage when they snap.
With some 280 million weapons available in the country, it's little wonder
guns account for roughly 12,000 of the 17,000 people murdered each year.
As the nation did following the April 20, 1999, Columbine murders, it is
time to confront the many causes of gun violence.
But the starting point has to be stricter gun control measures - including a
national assault-weapon ban, wider reporting of lost and stolen guns,
universal background checks, and limits on handgun purchases.
For local police to have any hope of fighting illegal gun sales, Congress
also must repeal the Tiahrt Amendment that shields traffickers by limiting
gun traces.
The question is whether the latest shootings will budge the needle on a
public policy debate that has been stalemated for years.
Until now, the Obama administration has failed to take on the National Rifle
Association over even the most reasonable gun control measure. Granted, Team
Obama has been busy on other fronts, but that's hardly a tenable stance now.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in February took aim at what should be
the top priority: reinstating a tough, federal assault-weapon ban. Until the
ban lapsed in 2004, it safeguarded police from 19 military-style weapons for
a decade.
In Harrisburg, it's long past time to move ahead on minimal protections
against gun trafficking. State lawmakers should heed the coalition of
Pennsylvania mayors - including Mayor Nutter - which just called for
enacting a mandatory requirement to report lost or stolen handguns.
Following that step, both Pennsylvania and New Jersey need to get serious
about limiting legal handgun buyers to one per month.
There's other unfinished business, too: turning down the volume on the
increasingly reckless drumbeat from right-wing groups over a so-called
"Second Amendment Revolution."
The fear ascribed to Pittsburgh's 23-year-old cop-killer suspect - that
President Obama was about to ban guns - isn't all that surprising, given
some gun-rights rhetoric. As the CeaseFirePA gun control group asked this
week, "At what point does super-heated rhetoric about government coming to
take your arms turn into a toxic brew that puts some misguided loner packing
guns . . . over the edge?"
The debate should be about how to stop senseless shootings.
With the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre approaching,
communities across the nation have relived the horror of what happens when
evil, paranoia, and madness mix with the ready availability of guns.
An appalling series of eight mass shootings has claimed at least 57 lives in
recent weeks. On Saturday, three Pittsburgh police officers were slain by a
man wielding an AK-47. The day before, a suicidal gunman took the lives of
13 civilians in Binghamton, N.Y., before shooting himself. Domestic disputes
led to other massacres in which children were cut down.
Experts believe the nation's economic woes are a factor underlying some of
the latest violence. But easy access to fearsome arsenals enables killers to
wreak carnage when they snap.
With some 280 million weapons available in the country, it's little wonder
guns account for roughly 12,000 of the 17,000 people murdered each year.
As the nation did following the April 20, 1999, Columbine murders, it is
time to confront the many causes of gun violence.
But the starting point has to be stricter gun control measures - including a
national assault-weapon ban, wider reporting of lost and stolen guns,
universal background checks, and limits on handgun purchases.
For local police to have any hope of fighting illegal gun sales, Congress
also must repeal the Tiahrt Amendment that shields traffickers by limiting
gun traces.
The question is whether the latest shootings will budge the needle on a
public policy debate that has been stalemated for years.
Until now, the Obama administration has failed to take on the National Rifle
Association over even the most reasonable gun control measure. Granted, Team
Obama has been busy on other fronts, but that's hardly a tenable stance now.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in February took aim at what should be
the top priority: reinstating a tough, federal assault-weapon ban. Until the
ban lapsed in 2004, it safeguarded police from 19 military-style weapons for
a decade.
In Harrisburg, it's long past time to move ahead on minimal protections
against gun trafficking. State lawmakers should heed the coalition of
Pennsylvania mayors - including Mayor Nutter - which just called for
enacting a mandatory requirement to report lost or stolen handguns.
Following that step, both Pennsylvania and New Jersey need to get serious
about limiting legal handgun buyers to one per month.
There's other unfinished business, too: turning down the volume on the
increasingly reckless drumbeat from right-wing groups over a so-called
"Second Amendment Revolution."
The fear ascribed to Pittsburgh's 23-year-old cop-killer suspect - that
President Obama was about to ban guns - isn't all that surprising, given
some gun-rights rhetoric. As the CeaseFirePA gun control group asked this
week, "At what point does super-heated rhetoric about government coming to
take your arms turn into a toxic brew that puts some misguided loner packing
guns . . . over the edge?"
The debate should be about how to stop senseless shootings.