May we do better to lower gun-related deaths

My holiday hope.

I looked at the gun violence archive site today. Numbers. Big numbers. Mass shooting numbers. Children killed numbers. Teens killed numbers.

Numbers aren’t just numbers. Each “1” really is someone’s child, brother, sister, mother, father, friend gone.

This is peacetime? We aren’t at war with any other country, yet we’ve had 600-plus mass shootings so far in 2022.

Anger, hate, resentment and mental health difficulties aren’t going anywhere. They are a core part of human nature. May we aspire for positive ways to manage these very human characteristics — but let’s stop kidding ourselves, they are here to stay.

May we attack this problem with vigor and determination through community and democracy as though our child, brother, sister, mother or father depends on it.

May we eliminate or limit new gun sales and have buyback programs and rebates for people willing to have their guns removed from the national inventory.

May we outlaw all automatic and semi-automatic weapons and modifications that make a gun such.

May we enact impactful licensing measures for gun ownership. May anyone that wants to own a gun have a thorough background check for a license and may that license be renewed every six months. May the health and stressors of the gun owner be assessed regularly. May we regulate gun ownership licenses as well or better as we do driver licenses.

May we continuously improve education around conflict resolution, stress management, acceptance of others and mental health.

May we do better.

— Brian Taht, Louisville