GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION POLICY CHANGES NOW!

In the wake of the tragic gun violence at a high school in Florida, surviving students have inspired the nation with their commitment to reduce gun violence in the US. They and many others are pushing states and the federal government to enact laws that will reduce gun violence. (See my previous post for ways to support this movement.)

Here are examples of policy changes that we should make at the state and federal levels to reduce gun violence. If you have any doubts about whether these policies would make a difference, please see the data on the results of the ban on semi-automatic weapons that Australia instituted after a mass shooting there in 1996 that are in this previous blog post. (Those statistics are from 2013 and I’m sure they would present an even more dramatic contrast today.)

• Ban the sale of semi-automatic weapons. There was a federal ban on these weapons from 1994 to 2004, but Congress let it expire and has refused to re-enact it. Eight states have bans on semi-automatic weapons. At the very least, we should raise the age for purchasing a semi-automatic weapon from 18 to 21, which is the current requirement under federal law for the purchase of a handgun.
• Ban the sale of high capacity magazines that often hold 30 bullets. Six or ten bullets are plenty for any reasonable civilian use. Again, at the very least, we should raise the age for purchasing a high capacity magazine from 18 to 21.
• Institute a waiting period for the purchase of any gun. Florida, like many states, has a three-day waiting period (sometimes referred to as a cooling off period) for the purchase of a handgun but not for a semi-automatic weapon.
• Institute a strong, effective background check requirement for ALL gun purchases.
• Limit the number of guns and amount of ammunition an individual can buy in a given time period, such as a week or a month. At a minimum, require gun sellers to report to law enforcement any sales of multiple guns or large amounts of ammunition to a single buyer within a five-day (or longer) period. This is currently required for handguns but not for semi-automatic weapons or ammunition.
• Enact Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws that allow family members to petition a judge for an order to confiscate an individual’s firearms when it is determined that the individual’s access to a gun poses an extreme risk to him or herself or others.
• Enact reasonable requirements for obtaining a gun, such as a license and training. We require a license and training to drive a car; there’s no reason we shouldn’t for the owning of a gun. Furthermore, we could require gun owners to have insurance, as we do car owners, to protect themselves and others from injuries, deaths, or property damage that occur due to gun usage.
• Require gun owners to report to law enforcement the loss or theft of a gun.
• Any gun or ammunition seller who violates the law and allows an individual to obtain a gun or ammunition illegally should be treated as an accomplice under criminal and civil law to murder or any other crimes committed with the gun or ammunition.

Gun violence, and the deaths and injuries that result, is a public health epidemic in the US. Keeping guns from killing our children and others at the rate of 30,000 deaths a year is ultimately about the right to life. This is not about balancing gun rights with other rights; it’s about keeping our children, our teachers, and everyone else safe and alive.

Clearly, all these policy changes aren’t going to happen quickly or all at once. But we must start taking meaningful steps to reduce gun violence.

I urge you to call, email, and / or write your federal and state elected officials and demand reasonable gun laws that will prevent future gun massacres. We must insist that our elected officials pass sensible gun violence prevention laws or, if they won’t, we must elect other candidates at the state and national level who will. You can find your US Representative’s name and contact information at: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/. You can find your US Senators’ names and contact information at: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

I also encourage you to participate in on-line or local actions to express your support for the students from Parkland and the movement they have inspired, as well as for common-sense gun violence prevention laws. It’s past time to take serious steps to reduce gun deaths and violence, as well as hopefully, eventually, to eliminate the occurrence of gun massacres – as Australia successfully did in 1996.