The Mass Shooting In A Georgia School Is Just One Of Many

Another mass shooting is making the national news. This time it is in a Georgia High School, where a 14 year old killed four people (2 students and 2 teachers) and wounded several others. 

But that mass shooting (a shooting where at least four people are shot) is just one of many this year. Most of them don't make the national news. In the first 248 days of this year, there have been 385 mass shootings in the United States. That's an average of 1.55 mass shootings every day!

And once again, we are hearing Republicans offer up thoughts and prayers. But thoughts and prayers don't save innocent lives - and they don't stop or slow the mass shootings. The only thing that will do that is the passage of sensible gun laws.

Republicans oppose all gun laws and restrictions. They claim passing any gun laws will impinge of the right of citizens to buy and own a gun. That's a lie!

The right to buy and own a gun is not absolute. The Supreme Court has ruled that reasonable gun laws are constitutional - including who can buy a gun, where they can carry that gun, and what kind of gun can be bought or possessed. 

The court has ruled that criminals and other dangerous individuals may be restricted from buying or possessing a firearm of any kind. They upheld the background check law passed many years ago. But sadly, that background check law was full of holes, and allowed many dangerous people to purchase a gun without a background check. Republicans refuse to plug the holes in that law - even though between 80% and 90% of the public wants it done.

The 14 year old Georgia shooter had an assault-style weapon. That's not unusual any more. Many, if not most, mass shootings have been done with an assault weapon. Unfortunately, our politicians let the ban on those weapons expire (even though the Supreme Court had ruled it was constitutional). 

The ban on assault weapons needs to be reinstated. And any assault weapons allowed must be registered and required to have liability insurance in a significant amount. There is no legitimate reason to allow these kind of weapons to proliferate in our society.

I am not advocating anything that would violate the Second Amendment. But we need to pass reasonable and constitutional restrictions on guns that would keep them out of the hands of dangerous people while allowing decent and law-abiding citizens to own a gun.

That's not going to happen as long as Republicans have the power to block those laws. They must be voted out of power - and the coming November election is a great opportunity to do that. Vote for gun sanity. Vote for Democrats.