We must demand more action on gun control

Tim Schmidt, the president of the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, has decided to stick with the National Rifle Association trope that the only antidote to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun (May 15, “Concealed Carry Gun Expo Draws Protest from Councilman”).

First of all, Kendrick Castillo and Riley Howell would beg to differ. Unfortunately, they cannot, because they were two of the unarmed students who valiantly gave their lives in defense of their classmates, disarming yet two more mad men with guns in schools just recently.

And as for the simpleminded notion that all we need are more people with guns I would ask this: Why is it that America, a country with unarguably more good guys with guns than anywhere in the world, has so much gun violence? Let me rephrase: The U.S. has 4% of the world’s population but owns 45% of the world’s civilian guns. And my gun-owning friends remind me that the vast majority of American gun owners are lawabiding citizens. Which is to say that we have more good guys with guns than almost the rest of the world put together. But somehow, the one solution that these people keep coming back to is that we simply need more citizens with more guns.

We the people must demand that at the very least, our leaders have the courage to discuss the issues of violence and gun violence with as much objectivity and detachment from our personal wishes as we can. Yes, I realize that many, many good people own guns and wish to keep them. And I have heard their arguments before about why gun control has not worked. We cannot stop looking for answers simply because we cannot find the perfect solution immediately. The president recently declared “infrastructure week,” so why not “gun safety week,” or “gun safety month” or “gun safety year,” if necessary?

Most would agree that the solution involves some alchemy of getting guns out of the hands of the wrong people and getting mental health treatment for those same people. Why can’t we start there in some organized, wellfunded manner?

As the article stated, New Zealand had a mass shooting and responded with action within a month. The university of Texas shooter opened fire in 1966 and here we are, 53 years later, having the same non-discussion. This won’t change until good people decide and demand that it must.