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I worked on the issue of gun control in the 1980s while I lived, worked and parented in Florida because at that time I thought there was too much gun violence. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed an assault-weapons ban, which outlawed the AR-15 and other similar semi-automatic rifles. It expired in 2004. Since then gun deaths have tripled. We are an extreme outlier for gun murders in America as compared to other countries.
The Supreme Court is currently poised to likely expand the scope of 2nd Amendment protections, in their decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen.
The gun lobby and their supporters in Congress will always have their predictable responses in the aftermath of every horrific gun massacre: Thoughts and prayers; we need more guns in the hands of fill in the blank; a good guy with a gun would have stopped it; gun legislation wouldn’t have prevented that incident and then the usual scapegoats of immigrants and the mentally ill. But no matter where they decide to lay the responsibility, still nothing is done to limit the never-ending carnage and we continue to excuse and accept the inexcusable until we grow numb.
Waiting for the conscience of America.
Starr Gilmartin
Trenton
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