So, in the wake of the Florida school shootings, the dust is settling on what will be done to fix things. And, what is perhaps the best fix is being left been undone.
Untouched.
Passed over.
Background checks. Better background checks. Universal background checks.
If the whole idea is to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them, you have to screen out those who shouldn't have them.
Must.
It's Step One.
If you don't screen them out, how do you expect to keep them from having guns? Isn't it clear that if you don't make the checks to determine who shouldn't have guns, you can't suppose to keep those who shouldn't have guns from having them? Isn't that simple enough to see?
Oh, I guess there is one other option: We could ban everyone from having guns. If we keep everyone from having guns, that will include those who shouldn't have them.
Hmm? Which will it be -- banning everyone, or just those who shouldn't have them?
Now, we already have background checks, but they don't cover every sale. As it stands, only licensed gun dealers are required to run background checks. That does cover 78 percent of the sales. It doesn't include 22 percent. That's a significant number of sales going unchecked.
A survey of experts in 2017 came back with them picking universal background checks as the #1 effective policy to reduce gun deaths -- the #1 thing that needs to be done. If the experts are saying do this -- if they are saying it is the #1 thing that should be done, and if we are scrambling around to do something -- anything -- and if there doesn't seem to be much objection to doing it, why are we not doing it?
Why?
If we can see we have to prevent some people from having guns, and we don't take the steps prevent them, just how shortsighted are we? We should see this has to be done, but we are not doing it, not 100 percent.
(Note: Slight changes made 3-11-18)
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