Last weekend a gunman entered a night club with an assault rifle in Orlando, Florida and killed 49 people and injured 54 more.
On December 2, 2015 a couple in San Bernardino, California killed 14 people and injured 70 others with an assault weapon.
On July 16, 2015 a gunman in Chattanooga, Tennessee killed five people and injured 3 with an AK 47 assault rifle.
On July 20, 2012 a gunman entered a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado with an assault rifle and killed 12 people and injured 47.
On December 14, 2012 a gunman entered an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut and killed 20 children who were 5 or 7 years old and 6 adults with an assault rifle.
On January 8, 2011 Jared Loughery killed six people and injured 11 including Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford.
On November 5, 2009 a gunman at Ford Hood, Texas killed 12 people and wounded 30 more with a semi-automatic pistol. In the few weeks before the shooting he bought 3,000 rounds of ammunition.
After the murder of the children in Sandy Hook, Wayne LA Pierre of the NRA offered this pithy comment; “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
So, I have a question. Where was the “good guy with a gun” to stop the murders in all of these shootings? It certainly wasn’t Wayne LA Pierre who is paid almost a million dollars a year and provided his own private security so that he can shill for the gun manufacturers. The same Wayne LA Pierre who criticized the President for providing Secret Service protection for his daughters.
In 1994 the Public Safety and Recreational Use Protection Act was enacted which made it unlawful to manufacture for civilian use semi-automatic assault weapons and large capacity magazines. Regrettably, it had a ten year sunset provision and it expired in 2004. In the wake of the Sandy Hook murder of children, Wayne LA Pierre and the NRA renewed its vigorous opposition to renewing the ban on civilian use of assault weapons and large magazines. This speaks volumes about the NRA’s priorities and its allegiance to the gun manufacturers rather than the safety of the public.
Both Jared Loughery of the Tucson shooting and Adam Lanza the Sandy Hook Elementary School killer had history of mental illness. James Holmes, the Aurora, Colorado shooter pled not guilty by reason of insanity. Yet, Wayne LA Pierre and the NRA also oppose expanded background checks.
Last year, as I was leaving my position as a County Court Judge who had presided over thousands of criminal cases, I wrote an op-ed piece setting forth what I believed were some common sense proposals involving gun regulations. It produced an outpouring of vitriol from commenters whose courage in expressing their opinions was enhanced by their anonymity. Nevertheless, I will propose them again.
No one needs to own an assault rifle or high capacity magazines.
No one needs to have access to “cop-killer” bullets.
This is an election year. We will elect a new President, one –third of the Senate and the whole House of Representatives will also stand for election. If we are going to have some sanity restored to the use and possession of firearms it will have to come at the ballot box.
Yesterday, the President, commenting on this particular subject observed that “We have to decide if that is the kind of country we want to be. To actively do nothing is a decision as well.”
Richard Nixon campaigned on the slogan “This year vote like your whole world depended on it.” That is something to think about too because the way these events keep occurring, it could.