Protecting children from being slaughtered in school has nothing to do with the Second Amendment.
Reasonable citizens will always own reasonable guns for reasonable purposes – a pistol for personal protection, a rifle for hunting. So let's get past the spurious argument that trying to stop mass killing somehow means a slippery slope to take away Americans' rights. That's a convenient argument to duck behind for politicians in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., ducks every chance he gets. While in Congress, records show that Ryan has received more than $300,000 from the NRA. He's on NRA speed-dial. Ryan's colleagues? Over their careers, the top 10 NRA recipients in the Senate and House, all 20 of them Republicans, have pocketed more than $40 million. Do dollars mean more than lives? And if we're talking about preserving Americans' rights, what about the rights of the children murdered in Parkland, Florida? The rights of their parents, their friends, their loved ones? Did the shooter have a right to deliver – as was said so eloquently – “17 bullets to the heart” of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School? Enough. Let's rapidly deal with what must be done, now: Ban the AR-15 and semi-automatic weapons like it. They should only be used by the military and law enforcement. They're not designed to help Americans defend home and family. They're not called defense weapons – they're called assault weapons. They're intended to kill as many people as possible, as fast as possible. There had been a ban on the manufacture for civilian use of the AR-15 model – plus similar weapons – from 1994 to 2004. The ban had loopholes, letting manufacturers make small changes in weapons so they'd be legal. Still, the president of the International Chiefs of Police told Congress in 2004 that crime traced to assault weapons had fallen by 66%. That testimony didn't carry nearly as much weight as the NRA's cash, and Congress let the ban lapse. Since then, the AR-15 has been used with tragic results in Parkland and other infamous sites – Newton, Orlando, Aurora, Las Vegas, others. We need another ban, stronger, minus loopholes. Require background checks for ALL gun sales. Private, unlicensed sellers, including those at gun shows, are not required to do them. But background checks of a national database of criminals, drug users and those with violent behavior are relatively simple and often take only a few minutes. Prohibit guns from changing hands until a background check is COMPLETE. No exceptions, even when a background check gets bogged down. Dylann Roof, the South Carolina white supremacist who murdered nine black church-goers in 2015, was allowed to buy a .45- caliber Glock after three days elapsed because his background report – showing drug possession and multiple arrests – was delayed by a paperwork error. He should have been rejected. Outlaw bump stocks. This was the equipment of choice by Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock in 2017. He fired 1,100 rounds into a concert crowd and killed 58 people. Semi-automatic was not good enough for him. His bump stocks converted weapons into fully automatic killers. Congress seemed to be tip-toeing last fall toward a ban on bump stocks until the NRA wagged its fingers. After that, Ryan and others quietly dropped the idea. Yes, keep guns out of the hands of those who exhibit dangerous behavior. So-called red flag laws can help. But this is tricky when applied to mental illness – what sort of illness qualifies? How do we determine whether someone is truly dangerous? The Parkland shooter clearly exhibited threatening behavior and should have been stopped; other cases are not so obvious. Certainly, we can offer more services to the mentally ill and make our red-flag database more robust. But that will only have so much impact when so many people have such easy access to killing machines. Taking any – or all – of these steps does not violate the Constitution. None of it should be political or partisan. Nobody's moral compass should be swayed by the NRA. It all comes down to a simple question: Should Congress put America's safety first and finally – finally! – take action to protect us and our children? Tell your elected representatives how you answer that. Paul Anger Metairie Indivisible Louisiana Congressional Delegation U.S. Senators Next Election: 2020 for Cassidy, 2022 for Kennedy. Bill Cassidy, Republican. D.C. Office – 202-224-5824. Metairie – 504-838-0130. Baton Rouge – 225-929-7711 John Neely Kennedy, Republican. D.C. Office – 202-224-4623. New Orleans – 504-581-6190. U.S. Representatives Next Election for All: 11-6-2018 Steve Scalise, Republican, District 1 D.C. Office – 202-225-3015. Mandeville – 985-893-9064. Cedric Richmond, Democrat, District 2. D.C. Office – 202-225-6636. New Orleans – 504-288-3777. Clay Higgins, Republican, District 3. D.C.Office – 202-225-2031. Lafayette – 337-703-6105. Mike Johnson, Republican, District 4. D.C. Office -- 202-225-2777. Bosier City – 318-840-0309. Ralph Abraham, Republican, District 5. D.C. Office – 202-225-8490. Monroe – 318-322-3500. Garret Graves, Republican, District 6. D.C. Office – 202-225-3901. Baton Rouge – 225-442-1731.
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