Enough.

by Tom Shafer

August 4, 2019

Well, once again I am propelled to string some words together about gun violence – but this time it’s more personal because it has happened in my hometown, close to restaurants I enjoy, near homes where friends reside, and outside of taverns and bars I have haunted.  And yet I feel some guilt in stating that it’s “more personal” now, that somehow Sandy Hook, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Parkland weren’t personal enough, that the losses of children at school and adults enjoying music weren’t personal enough.  That parents and children shopping for school supplies and clothes in an El Paso Walmart wasn’t personal enough.  That somehow the massacre of people enjoying a beautiful summer evening in my Dayton, Ohio, is more personal.  I certainly apologize for such thinking because all of it should be personal.

A reader reached out to me this morning, hoping I was okay, but then wondering if I was going to write about this because in her words, “you are the only one who writes about this and makes some sense of it.”  I thank her for the kind sentiment, but unfortunately, nothing makes sense of senseless shootings.  But I think she is referring to other writings (in particular, “Hi, America, I wanna buy a tank” and “Another Mass Shooting”) where I am both flippant and prescriptive, pointing out the ridiculous nature of the gun debate going on in our country.

But I WILL make it clear: there is NO debate.  We MUST enact these common sense gun regulations NOW:

1. Extended background checks with a minimum seven-day waiting period

2. Mandatory education and training for all new gun purchases

3. The closing of gun show loopholes

4. A reconstitution of the assault weapons ban (including high capacity magazines). 

Yes, I hear the argument that people with bad intentions can always find guns to perpetrate the crimes that they desire, but why make it easier?  And, frankly, contrary to what you may hear, it is NOT that easy to buy a gun illegally.

And remember, I am no lily-white, yellow-bellied liberal who wants “to take your guns.”  I am a gun owner and former hunter who believes that gun ownership is a privilege in this country, not a right.  Those of you who want to argue the actual meaning of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution are welcome to try me (“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”), but my syntax/etymology expertise proves that the founding fathers shaped those words to protect the federal government’s mandate “to raise and support Armies” (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 12) – and not the states.  Nowhere in the Constitution is there discussion about an individual’s right to bear arms.  The Founding Fathers would never have legislated something like gun ownership while creating the document that formed our government.  Those of you who believe that it would are clearly wrong. 

But this isn’t the time to debate words.  The Constitution does not address the need for background checks and mandatory gun education, unregulated gun show sales, and assault weapons, so let’s start there.  If you are a law-abiding citizen and gun owner, these regulations will not affect you at all.  If you own a weapon of war (any assault rifles or pistols), under this legislation, the government will buy them back at current market cost.  (And no, I will not argue whether ARs are weapons of war; that debate was settled by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, in 2017 when it declared that they in fact are.)  Criminals and potential criminals are the only ones who should fear these regulations. 

Congress, and in particular the Republican members of the Senate and above all Moscow Mitch McConnell, it’s time to act.  We don’t need any more hopes and prayers.  Hopes and prayers don’t save lives.  Legislation can.  And if any of you are accepting this as a new normal, perhaps a Tweet from chef Andrew Zimmern will put things in perspective.

@andrewzimmern

Mass shootings per country for 2019, including today’s in #ElPaso TX. Today is only day 215 of the year.

Unfortunately, Dayton raises this total to 250. 

Enough.

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