Gun Violence Remains an Issue

“Enough is enough” is a rallying call for many supporters of legislation to end gun violence in our society, but apparently we have not reached the point at which legislators are willing to take strong action against gun violence. One may have thought that the mass murders at Virginia Tech that at the time set a record for the number of people murdered would have been enough to bring decisive action. Or how about mass murders in churches, in a municipal building, in homes, in a Walmart, on the streets? We still have not reached that magical number of saying that we have seen enough—enough people who lose their lives to persons they may or may not know. Enough people who have been traumatized for having witnessed a shooting, lost a friend or family member, or have had it with the daily news accounts of shootings. We have had enough of protests that do not bring about gun safety legislation.

The governor of Virginia was quoted in the newspaper as saying after a mass shooting in Virginia that this was the time to grieve and to share our thoughts and prayers and not talk about legislation. I have not heard a follow-up from him to say that we have now reached the time when we had enough violence that we should talk about legislation and administrative action to make our communities safer. He has not shown a willingness to ask the Attorney General to intervene on the matter of gun safety, but he has been willing to ask the Attorney General to investigate public schools when they have allegedly made administrative errors.

If we have ever reached a time when “enough is enough” it is when a six-year-old child shoots his teacher with a loaded pistol that he had carried to school! Reports are that the mother bought the pistol. There are no public reports as to who bought the bullets (certainly not the child) or who loaded it, put it into his backpack, or taught him to use it. Maybe this is an issue the Attorney General should be investigating rather than admission policies at schools.

Enough is enough when the City Council of Lynchburg is considering a resolution to make its city a second-amendment sanctuary against laws that might interfere with the rights of citizens to own guns. There is no mention in the resolution as to what will happen when one of the citizens use firearms against others who live in the city. Or what local businesses think about making their city a welcoming place for unrestricted firearm ownership.

The General Assembly is in session beginning today. You can count on me to speak out on making our state safer from gun violence and to vote for bills that will accomplish that purpose.