53 Lives Lost In A Month: I Think I Favor Gun Control — Do You?

A string of shootings in the U.S. in the last month alone has claimed the lives of 53 people. Police still don’t have a motive for several.

Is it time for gun control? Think about it, you have to have a license to drive a car, to fish, even to do nails. So why not to own a gun?

Fact: There are over 83 handgun deaths each day in the U.S. (That’s each and every day)

Is it time to mandate some sort of training to own one? Many states mandate driver’s education for teens, motorcycle safety courses and certification to own certain martial arts weapons. In many states you even have to have training to hunt on public lands! So why not to own a gun?

Fact: In 2005, the most current statistic available from the Centers for Disease Control, there were 789 accidental gun deaths per 100,000 people.

Should sanctions be taken against gun owners whose firearms were improperly stored and consequently were used to cause death or injury?

Fact: In a single year, 3,012 children and teens were killed by gunfire in the United States, according to the latest national data released in 2002. That is one child every three hours; eight children every day; and more than 50 children every week. And every year, at least 4 to 5 times as many kids and teens suffer from non-fatal firearm injuries.

Is it time to require a basic level of mental screening to get one?

Fact: In the U.S., guns are associated with the majority of homicides and over half the suicides.

Is it time to rethink limiting the type of guns Americans can own (i.e. a new Brady Bill)?

Fact: While fun to shoot, the Kalashnikov's automatic rifle model of year 1947 (AK-47), M16, Armalite Model 15 (AR 15), Hekler and Koch MP5, Uzi and the like were not meant for any type of “sporting” use. They were designed to kill human beings in a combat environment, thus the name “assault weapons.”