A FRANK DISCUSSION ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE

One of the questions I am frequently asked, in a rather antagonistic way, is why I want to see more kids killed, such as what happened in Newtown, Connecticut.  People who ask that question really have no understanding of the issue; they are in the attack mode and dealing strictly from emotion.  

This is just not about the kids in Newtown.  Several thousand people die in this country every year due to gun violence, but less than 600 have died in mass shootings in all of the years since 1983 put together.  To begin, then, this should not be about those kids or about mass shootings; it should be about gun crime taken as a whole. 

Secondly, the glib position that we need to get rid of guns is dangerous.  FBI statistics show, in fact, that the higher the percentage of private citizens owning guns in a community the lower the violent crime rate; the tougher the gun ownership laws are, the higher the violent crime rate.  Furthermore, if you somehow managed to gather up all of the guns in this nation without causing a civil war or revolution in the process, then you would have a citizenry powerless against its government; historically, that condition has led to tyranny, oppression and some form of dictatorial government in every single instance.  

What we should be asking ourselves are questions such as: Has the decline in ethical and moral leadership in the country at all levels had an adverse impact on society in general, and on violent crime in particular?  If so, what do we do about it?  

As it stands, you have gun control advocates using Newtown as a reason to confiscate guns.  You have gun owners ready to shoot the first sorry soul who gets sent to confiscate those guns.  Yet, both sides should agree that something needs to be about our society, drug and mental issues, and other root causes of all forms of violence in this country.  Something needs to be done to bring us back to the ethical and moral values upon which the country was built and which made us the great nation we once were. 

If we had a real leader in the White House, he would be pulling both sides together, sitting them down at the table and looking for real answers and solutions.  He should not be trying to fan the fires of hatred between the two sides.  

In the meanwhile, to re-coin a phrase, "While Obama golfs, America crumbles."  

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.