Thoughts and Prayers

I'm so tired of hearing politicians offer thoughts and prayers after yet another mass shooting in the United States.

I'm tired of being told nothing can be done.

I'm tired of the all-powerful gun lobby holding all of us hostage.

I'm tired of being told that bringing common sense gun regulation into the conversation is politicizing a tragedy.

Only in America does the right to own military grade weaponry and ammunition  trump all other rights.

I want universal background checks.

I want limitations on the types of weapons a citizen can buy.

I want limitations on the sizes of ammunition magazines a citizen can buy.

I want intrinsic safety devices on all guns so that only the rightful owner can operate a gun.

I want everyone who seeks to own a firearm to have to be licensed, to have to pass a background check, and to have to pass a proficiency check.

I want firearm licenses to expire so that the background checks and proficiency checks are repeated at a frequency.

I want a superfund tax and a superfund established for the victims of gun violence. 

I don't think all gun owners are bad people.

I believe in the right to bear arms.

But all rights come with responsibilities.

It is time for all law abiding citizens to think long and hard about gun rights and responsibilities.

It is past time for Congressmen and Senators to stop catering to the gun lobby and start working for a better America.

We need Congress and the Senate to work together to get high-capacity ammunition magazines, and military style semi-automatic weapons out of the hands of ordinary citizens.

We need Congress and the Senate to outlaw ammunition designed to do the most harm to the victim.

I live in Louisiana.  I will send this to my Senators and Congressman, and they will tell me that I am wrong and that nothing can be done, and nothing will be done.

And I will not vote for them in the next election, I will vote for candidates that believe in responsible common sense gun regulations.

And I will keep trying to get reasonable common sense gun laws passed.

And someday, something will get done.  And when reasonable common sense gun laws are passed, the carnage will be decreased.

A list of things that can be done, now all we need are legislators who want to do something more than take blood money from the gun lobby.

Things I don't understand

Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut filibustered for 15 hours yesterday to attempt to get the United States Senate to do something about closing the background check loophole, and preventing people on the "no fly" or suspected terrorist list from buying firearms.

I applaud Senator Murphy and all the other Senators who supported the filibuster.  And I'm glad someone in the Senate finally got frustrated enough to do something big and newsworthy.

But here is what I don't understand.

I don't understand exactly why mass shootings by someone reported to be a Muslim get so much more emotional response from so many more people than a disturbed white christian perpetrating a mass shooting.

"I'm so glad my child was murdered by a white christian with a gun," said no parent ever.

I understand that mass shootings are horrific, and they steal our sense of safety, because they so often happen in places we can see ourselves, like schools, and theaters, and malls, and clubs.

But the other fatalities caused by irresponsible gun use are equally dead.  Lives cut equally short.  Families left with gaping holes that can never be filled.

I am stunned with grief by the terrible shooting at Pulse in Orlando.  But I am also stunned with grief at the shooting of four children, ages 3, 7, 11 and 14 and their mother in Roswell, New Mexico. And I don't understand how so many Americans can hear day after day of the terrible toll of gun violence and think that it is OK to maintain the status quo.

Look at the US total accumulated gun stock.  Does it strike you, as it does me, that there is something wrong with the proliferation of guns in society?

More guns do correlate with more gun violence, homicides, suicides, and mass shootings.

I don't understand how the gun lobby has achieved the combination of relaxed laws and hysteria that had led us to this place.

I applaud those who are trying to return some sanity to the debate about who should own guns and ammunition, and what kind of guns and ammunition are really supposed to be in the hands of ordinary citizens.  I applaud those who lobby for more and better mental health services, so that desperate people have easier access to help than to guns.  I also applaud those who lobby for better safety devices on guns, so that children accidentally accessing a firearm can't use it to kill themselves or someone else.

And I don't understand how reasonable people fight against safety devices.  I don't understand how reasonable people can look at what is happening with gun violence in the United States and be content to do nothing.

No change was ever accomplished by the reasonable man.  It is time for the proponents of common sense gun regulations to be unreasonable and get the change we need.

If nothing changes, soon there will be no one who has not been personally impacted by gun violence.  And I just don't understand why it has to be that way.

The worst ever

Fifty this time.  Fifty dead and another fifty-three wounded.  When will enough be enough?

Enough to pass a law requiring universal background checks?  Enough to make sure if you are on the "no fly" list you are also on a "no buy" list?  Enough to outlaw high capacity magazines for anyone other than the military and law enforcement SWAT teams? Enough to reinstate the assault weapons ban?

It sickens me that this violence in the United States continues, and no one in Congress wants to do anything about it.

And the cost.  The cost in terms of human suffering.  The cost in terms of lost potential in the lives of the victims.  The cost of ongoing care and rehabilitation for the survivors.

If we can't keep the criminals from possessing weapons with this tremendous destructive power, we need a funding mechanism to support the victims.

A superfund for victims.  Money won't bring back the dead.  But their families should be compensated for the loss of their loved ones.  And the survivors often needs years of rehabilitation.

The gun and ammunition manufacturers and importers are profiting from the sale of these killing machines.  They should have to pay a tax to clean up the mess their product is making.

And all those who want to possess these weapons of destruction should have to pay a tax for their destructive use.

All of us are paying the price to protect a few manufacturers and importers from the irresponsible production, sale and use of their products.  I think it is time for those profiting to start making reparation for the mess their product makes.

Please, write your Senators, write your Congressman.  If we all band together to say enough is enough, maybe, just maybe, something will change.

Something has to be done

The innocent victims of gun violence often are not fatalities.  They often suffer life changing injuries that create incredible hardship for them and their families.  There is little to no recourse for financial assistance with the economic burden their injury and recovery places on them.

I think there is an answer.

In the same way that the products produced by the chemical manufacturing industry caused societal harm (pollution) that was not foreseen, the gun and ammunition manufacturing industry's products have caused societal injury (mass shootings of innocent people, accidental shootings) that they say is not foreseen.

And in the same way the Superfund Tax was created and in place from 1980 to 1995 to clean up the mess that the chemical industry said it never intended to make, I think we need a Superfund Tax on guns and ammunition to support the victims and families of gun violence.

The tax would be levied on all firearms and ammunition manufactured or imported in or to the United States.  The first sale of a firearm, and all sales of ammunition would be subject to the tax.  

The tax would then be used for the support, both medical and social of the innocent victims of gun violence.

The proceeds of the superfund would not be available for financial support of someone shot in the execution of a crime, or someone who was exchanging fire in an unlawful fashion.

There could be a graduated tax, such that higher capacity weapons and ammunition clips would be taxed at a higher rate.

Firearms without safety devices to disable the weapon if someone other than the legal owner tried to fire would have a higher tax rate.

Firearms produced directly for the US Military or US police forces could be exempt.

We face a Congress that is unwilling to do anything to control guns, or to provide universal background checks for people wanting to own guns.

The societal cost of unchecked gun manufacture, ownership and violence needs to be borne by those who participate in the gun hobby.

The superfund tax on guns and ammunition would align the cost of the unplanned events caused by gun and ammunition manufacture, import and distribution with the people who benefit from guns and ammunition.