Editorial: Shooting highlights importance of gun control

Monday, April 23, 2007

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the hot debate on gun control will inevitably arise, along with the tired mantra of the NRA: Guns don’t kill people.

We all know that guns don’t walk around and pull their own triggers. People shoot guns, guns spit bullets and bullets cause deadly physical damage. It should be relevant, however, that distressed loners and enraged exes specifically reach for guns in their murderous rages because guns are highly effective killing tools that are too easily available.

Some believe that violent episodes such as the recent school shooting would not occur if more persons protected themselves with guns. If we all had guns and someone started unloading bullets in an innocent crowd, we would have a war, not peace. Even if a few law-abiding citizens with good aim managed to quickly quell the havoc, there would be far more incensed and disillusioned people that would use guns to begin conflict.

Yet gun control is severely lacking. In Kansas, there are no restrictions on the number of guns that can be purchased, no record on gun sale and no requirement that guns be registered with law enforcement. Assault weapons are as available as hunting rifles. Customers do not need a license or training to purchase a handgun and it is not necessary to buy a child-safety lock. There is no waiting period on gun sales after the criminal background, which occurs only at federally-licensed gun stores and not at other venues, such as gun shows. In 1999, the Harvard School of Public Health found two-thirds of grade school and high school students reported that they could obtain a gun within 24 hours.

Such lenient gun control has caused countless tragedies. In 1998, the Centers for Disease Control found that 57 percent of gun deaths involved suicide and 40 percent involved homicide.

According to a report by the US Secret Service and the US Department of Education, two thirds of students involved in nearly 40 school shootings from 1974 to 2000 obtained their guns from their own home or a relative’s home. A child’s risk of committing suicide is also greater when guns are available in the home.

Another famed NRA slogan asserts “when guns are outlawed, only outlaws have guns.”

Far more plentiful than armed outlaws, however, are crushed, confused and irrational individuals near boiling point whose first crime begins with a rash decision to reach for an easily available gun. As history demonstrates, their hasty crimes can leave an indelible scar in society.

In the wake of yet another school shooting, we must begin to realize the relation between gun availability and gun-related deaths. Capping freedom is a touchy topic, but we all already understand that individual freedoms are reasonably and necessarily limited. Most significantly, it is wrong and illegal to kill another person. Why, therefore, should it be legal to easily sell and trade guns primarily used to kill people?

— Alison Kieler for the editorial board

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