Letter to the Editor: Two Lies and a Truth about Gun Violence

Advocates for reforms regulating gun ownership are accused of wanting to take away everyone’s guns. That’s a lie. Patricia Krov of the Texas Gun Owners for Safety wrote, “The gun lobby has spread the myth that we face a binary choice: guns everywhere, or no guns at all. That’s not true … Commonsense [firearm] regulations don’t threaten anyone’s constitutional rights.” 

Also, let’s also stop saying politicians are “doing nothing” about gun violence because that is also not true. They did what they could, given the constraints of the values of their political party and the voters who elected them to office. Legislatures have allocated billions to hardening our schools with sophisticated locking, ID systems, bullet-proof glass, resource officers, surveillance cameras and metal detectors. We conduct active shooter drills. Whatever our feelings about these measures – hopeful, dubious or patient – we have to admit they have failed. 

A truth is that time is on the side of the perpetrators. If we want different outcomes, we have to require our representatives to implement different tactics, or we have to vote for candidates who are willing to implement different approaches, beginning with regulating gun ownership as a measure of public safety. 

We can’t own hand grenades, howitzers, tanks, machine guns or other weapons of war. It’s no stretch to include regulating assault rifles. 

Preventing firearms (beginning with assault weapons) from getting into the hands of those who should not have access to them – requiring universal background checks, public-service reminders of firearm-storage requirements, enacting extreme-risk (red flag) regulations and employing “unique identifier smart gun” technology – are measures of public safety we can enact and still have a “well-regulated militia.”

Norman J. Wilsman

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin