I have just made a move to help institute sensible gun control in this country. I joined “Everytown for Gun Safety”. It is a movement to work with state governments to pass sensible gun control laws. The membership now is about 3.5 Million mothers and others. It has the financial backing of all these concerned folks as well as Bloomberg, former mayor of NYC. I read some impressive statistics recently about the drop in gun violence in the Big Apple, thanks to his and others efforts to reverse the deadly trend.
As a Montana native, I am very familiar with hunting rights and rights of gun use for sport. I support hunting as a supplement to the dinner table and for sensible sport. I endorse those who use their guns for hunting and sport. However, the NRA has lost any respect I may have had for them by advocating every kind of weapon as permissible in any situation. In a perfect world that might work……..but our world is far from perfect.
Better records of gun purchases and ownership along with safe storage requirements would be a move to dampen the random shootings. Improvement in our services to locate and treat mentally disturbed people would help to moderate the anger and/or twisted thinking that takes someone in to a crowd to open fire.
I am through clucking my tongue and weeping for the victims and their families. It is time for me to step up and do something. How about you?
You can check out this organization on the web. This Sunday morning’s Tri-City Herald had a lead story on the organization and convinced me that it is an avenue that shows promise of making a difference. I have entered my name into membership and will be supporting the group financially.
Sincerely,
Alta P. Thomas
Mother, grandmother, auntie, grandauntie, cousin and teacher/mentor to hundreds of high school aged kids