I was talking with a woman the other day who is an elementary school teacher in the East. I knew she was a staunch Republican and didn't follow the news, except for Fox news. I asked what she would do, if she was told she had to have a gun in her classroom. The woman didn't answer my question, but instead said "I wish they would stop talking about all this gun violence and blaming the NRA. I blame the social media and video games." I wanted to tell her some of the terrible things the NRA and their lobbyists have done. For example, they had a law reinstated that someone with mental illness could buy a gun. They also successfully lobbied against having a National Gun Registry and also made it possible for guns to be sold without a background check at gun shows. 40% of guns are sold without background checks. Since the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elemenatary, we have had 396 killings and 26 of them have been children. We are having about 200 gun killings a week and truly have an "epidemic of gun violence."
It is hard to understand how a teacher, who is a mother and grandmother, and seems to love her pupils could be so unaware of the terrible tragedies that are occurring in this country. The NRA, of course, is delighted that so many are now out buying guns. They have just been training teachers in Utah to handle a gun. The statistics however according to a study done by the University of Pennsylvania in 2009 show that a gun carrier is 4.5 times more likely to be shot and 4.2 times more likely to be killed than someone who is not armed. I thnk we all have to stand up and shout from the rooftops that the NRA must be stopped in their push to have everyone armed.
I have been reading your blog and appreciate your insightful commentary on some of today's most important issues. I strongly agree with you on the issue of gun violence and believe that you are doing us all an important service in continuing to push these issues into the spotlight.
Thank you,
CM
Posted by: CM | January 05, 2013 at 10:24 PM