Regarding the May 14 letter “We elected U.S. Rep. McBath for gun safety action”:
Ms. Wilkes writes an impassioned plea to “do something” about guns murdering our children. She says Rep. McBath supported a background check bill. How does this differ from the myriad “gun laws” already on the books? The philosopher Cicero is reported to have said, “More laws, less justice.” It’s a pretty good idea to consider in many cases where politicians call for new laws, new restrictions, new procedures, more guarantees of safety.
Rep. McBath is enthusiastic about gun control and has made no secret of her desire to remove most weapons from private citizens so we can emulate Venezuela or some other sad, sad society. Instead, why don’t we seriously work two things that seem to have worked everywhere they’ve been tried?
- Enforce laws strictly and punish violators relentlessly (no more free rides or wrist-slaps).
- More education for everyone about guns, how they work, and their purpose.
Fixing mass shootings requires more than extra background checks, more than turning in your crazy Uncle Louie, and more than making the police officers lug around another telephone book of misshapen and ill-advised laws and regulations. It will take all of us deciding to do something that’s simple, direct and unflagging in its application. Each adult and most teens know what is right and wrong – we’ve made it nearly impossible to simply say, “No, that’s wrong!”
Society is powerful, and mores that are accepted by 95% are what makes things work in the civilized manner we’d all love to see.
David Wallace
Sandy Springs
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