Soon after the tragic mass killing at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., cries for strict gun control came in a flood. A SECOND commentary that surfaces with mass shootings and other acts of a horrible nature, is mental impairment of the person responsible — probably a given with abhorrent crimes. WHATEVER the circumstances that lead someone to callously kill must be defined well enough, and in narrow enough terms, to find a way to deal with root causes. And then we must vigorously pursue a lasting solution.
There is a positive correlation between gun control and homicide rates, studies have found, but it is not so simple to restrict guns sales and ownership in a free society, and one that has been thus for decades.
Gun ownership is a deep-rooted fact of life. More than 40 percent of guns, of all nature, privately owned, are found in the United States, most for sporting use.
On the flip side, a large number of handguns, as well as assault rifles and other weapons designed primarily to kill people and magazines gorged with ammunition make up a component that has been mentioned most often by those who want to impose restrictions, through waiting periods, registration and outright bans.
The unfortunate outcome is that essentially all people who would honor such restrictions pose no threat. They are good, honest folks who have a liking for weapons, without any thought of using them for illegal acts.
Would restrictions help? Most likely. Will they occur? Doubtful, given the political temper of the nation today and for the foreseeable future.
But it is faulty argument to make generalizations. Fact is, more often people with mental disorders are victims of violence and abuse, not perpetrators.
Other factors often noted as causes of such crimes are drug and alcohol abuse, poverty and family situations that have compounded over years and become an unbearable burden. In some cases, news reports that dwell so extensively on spectacular and bloody events may spawn copycats.
— Bob Johnson
It’s long past time to stop the killing
