Gun violence is a devastating, complicated problem.
Federal lawmakers have so far been unwilling to pass comprehensive gun-control legislation, so in that absence, local, state, and federal officials continue with piecemeal efforts to fight gun violence.
For example, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sponsors a bill that would make gun trafficking a federal crime. Guns are often purchased legally in one state, she says, then transported and sold illegally in other states. Federal law treats those sales, at best, as a minor crime, she says.
Gillibrand held a roundtable discussion in Rochester last week about the bill and gun violence. The event included local law enforcement and members of the community.
“I think if we create the outcry in our own communities, it can be replicated in other communities” which will help create political support for meaningful gun control legislation, Gillibrand says.
In Rochester, approximately 60 percent of the crime guns recovered by police were at some point legally owned in Monroe County, says Police Chief Michael Ciminelli, although some do come from out of state. He backs Gillibrand’s legislation because it’d allow for broader federal efforts against illegal guns, he says.
“It’s another tool,” Ciminelli says.
County Legislator Ernest Flagler-Mitchell, whose cousin was killed in a recent city shooting, said that keeping people safe starts with keeping guns out of the wrong hands. He’s working on legislation to create a county-wide safe storage law for guns, which he plans to release this week.
Flagler-Mitchell’s proposal is well-timed. Last week, an 11-year-old boy in Tennessee allegedly shot and killed his neighbor, an 8-year-old girl, after an argument over a puppy. The boy allegedly used his father’s shotgun, which was reportedly stored in an unlocked closet.
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2015.
I’m assuming that Senator Gillibrand no longer keeps guns under her bed. Why? It’s important that we know why.
Politicians who own guns or hire armed guards to protect themselves should understand that their example is part of the problem.
Legal ownership of a gun shouldn’t be the overriding issue here. Moral leadership that persuades people not to own a gun or to get rid of one’s gun is what’s needed.
Interesting that Sen Gilbrand is decrying gun violence yet votes to send arms and aid to Wahabi mercenaries so they can destroy entire countries.
This senseless “feel good” legislation is only helpful to the politicians who want recognition from the uninformed, misinformed or naive voters.
The laws that are on the books now for gun ownership are not obeyed by all, nor are they enforced; so adding more laws only gives many people a pseudo feeling of being safer.
This type of legislation frustrates the legal gun owners because they follow the rules, while they see that many do not and would feel helpless in defending themselves or their families, when accosted by an armed perpetrator.
Even if total disarmament were the law, would that make everyone feel safer? It would make the illegally armed perpetrator feel safer, for sure.