There Must Be Outrage Over These Killer Weapons

On the heels of Tuesday’s rampage in the San Fernando Valley, there undoubtedly will be a renewed national discussion on gun control. Before that all-too-predictable debate begins anew and each side becomes entrenched in their respective positions, we all need to reflect on the core issue that was so dramatically evident on national television.

During the 10 years the United States officially had combat troops in Vietnam, nearly 57,000 troops were killed. The photographs, news clips and reporters’ accounts of those young men dying, their remains being placed in body bags for the return home to their grieving parents, wives and children, literally brought this nation to its knees. However, from 1987 to 1997, nearly four times as many people (217,853)--mostly children--have been murdered on the streets of our cities. More than 65% of those murders were committed with firearms.

Where’s the public outcry? Where are the marches on our state capitols, college campuses or Washington, D.C., to demand relief from this senseless carnage of our sons and daughters? If there is one legacy every generation owes the next, it’s to protect their safety and security, and we, as a nation and as a people, have failed our children miserably.

There is simply no place in our cities for weapons that are designed for the exclusive purpose of efficiently and effectively killing people. Some claim it’s impossible to draft legislation that fully and accurately describes these antipersonnel weapons in order to prohibit their public possession. Garbage!

We have no problem enacting and enforcing laws prohibiting automatic weapons, parts that facilitate such conversions and other military ordnance. Fish and game laws have been on the books for decades prohibiting the use of these weapons for hunting animals. So, why is it so difficult to find language that would prohibit the use of these weapons to hunt and butcher our children? It is not difficult at all. What is difficult is forging the public will to simply do what must be done to protect our children from the slaughter we see all too often on the nightly news. And until we take that action, we cannot and should not look our children in the face and try to tell them we have done the best we could to provide for their safety.

As a people who claim to be civilized, as a people who claim to be educated, as a people who claim to be world leaders, we should all be ashamed.

When will we ever learn?