And the carnage continues. This time it is Great Mills
school in Maryland. Two students were injured and the killer was shot and
killed by the quick action of the school resource officer.
In the absence of politicians and school leaders with
backbones, the bodies pile up. It is next to impossible to get legislators to
adopt even the most elementary measures to keep guns out of the hands of those
who are a threat to themselves or others, terrorists, convicted felons, and
spouse abusers.
In the wake of the Parkland school shooting, President Trump
bloviated he would support raising the age to buy guns to 21. However, one
dinner with National Rifle Association officials and that idea was dropped.
To quote Douglas Kellner in his book, Guys and Guns Amock: Domestic Terrorism and School Shootings from the
Oklahoma City Bombing to the Virginia Tech Massace: “Given the power of the
gun lobby and the cowardice of politicians, obviously only a minimal amount of
gun control is foreseeable. Certainly, the attempts at reform after Columbine
that were advanced during the Clinton-Gore years, and then repulsed during the
Bush-Cheney years, are reasonable and in the national interest. Hence, for
starters, reasonable gun control would involve: 1) returning to earlier
attempts to require child-safety locks on handguns; 2) increasing the minimum
age for gun purchases; 3) requiring stricter background checks on weapons
purchased; 4) producing better data sharing among police, legal, and mental
health institutions and universities; and 5) closing the gun show loophole
through which guns can be purchased without background checks.” (To be continued)
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