By Jack Levine
As our prayers for peace and comfort go out to our loved ones and friends during the holiday season, our hearts are broken by the horrific news of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre of 26 innocents…..20 first-grade girls and boys and 6 adults who taught and loved them.
While we grieve for this tragic loss of life and family anguish, I sincerely believe we must energize our resolve to take action to reform our firearms and super-weapon laws.
Our policy leaders should be supported to enact nationwide prohibitions on gun show purchases without background records checks, limitation on the sale of super multi-round ammo magazines, as well as restrictions on access to military-designed automatic assault weapons.
We should join forces with our law enforcement, public health allies, reform advocates and families affected by firearms violence in this fight to bring needed legal redirection.
Legitimate gun ownership for self-protection, historic collections and sports is not at issue….but what is clear is we are at a point in our lives when logical lines of defense must be drawn.
The debate should not be whether any change is needed…..but to what degree are we willing to recognize that slaughter can be prevented if we advocate quality mental health services in combination with sensible and enforceable firearms laws.
There are some who say that heinous crimes will be committed no matter what we do to restrict firearms access, but I hold to the belief that the scope and volume of victims of these horrific events would be minimized if certain weapons were less accessible. It’s worth the effort to bring the debate forward…it’s not so much about rights as it is about responsibility.
Here’s a link to the BradyCenterto Prevent Gun Violence http://www.bradycenter.org/ for additional information on sensible firearms reforms.