Another Shooting Adds To The Epidemic Of Gun Violence

(This image of the college shooting in Oregon is from CNN News.)

We've had another tragic shooting in the United States. This time it was at a community college in Oregon. A 20 year-old man entered the campus, and after his ridiculous shooting, at least 13 people are dead, and up to 20 more wounded. I don't know if he was a right-wing terrorist, a muslim terrorist, a criminal, or a person with severe mental problems. At this point, it really doesn't matter.

What we know is that this is happening far too often. There have been 142nd school shootings since the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut -- and this is the 45th school shooting this year (in 2015). And that's just the tip of the iceberg. In 2015, we have been averaging at least one mass shooting (a shooting in which at least four people are killed or wounded) every day. And if you consider all shootings, that average goes much higher.

I know that many on the right don't want to admit it, but we have an epidemic of gun violence in this country. I don't know what else you could call it. And it doesn't have to be this way. No other developed country has this much gun violence (and neither do most third-world countries). We continue to have this obscene and rising level of gun violence because our politicians refuse to do anything about it -- either because they are afraid of ending their own political career if they take a stand, or because they have been bought off by the gun manufacturers (through their lackey, the NRA).

That is inexcusable! We must take action. The easiest thing we could do is to plug up the holes in our background check law for people trying to buy a gun. Currently, about 40% of the guns sold in this country every year are sold without a background check being done (or required). That should not happen. No gun should be sold anywhere in this country without a background check first being done. And over 90% of the American people would support closing those holes in that law.

That would not completely solve the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S., but it would significantly reduce the amount of deaths from gun violence -- because it would make it much harder for terrorists, criminals, and the dangerously mentally ill to get a gun.

Some of you may say that these people would just buy their gun illegally. But it is not that easy to buy an illegal gun -- the police see to that. And many, if not most, of the guns that go on the black market are bought legally (by people who should not be able to purchase a gun) and then sold illegally. Closing the holes in the background check law would reduce the number of guns available on the black market.

I'm sure the right-wing, the NRA, and other gun nuts can come up with all sorts of silly (and untrue) reasons why we should do nothing about this epidemic of gun violence. But we must act anyway. And there is no legitimate reason why we shouldn't at least close the holes in our background check law.