“This is a mental health problem at the highest level,” said President Donald Trump in response to the deaths and injuries at Sutherland Springs, Texas this week.

Yep.

The mental health issue, “at the highest level,” is the sickness in the White House and Congress that views the never-ending deaths of Americans at the hands of men armed better than the police and sees nothing to be done to quell this ongoing nightmare.

Oh sure, they grope at responses like, “Now is not the time to discuss this,”, or “Guns don’t kill, people do,” or that new favorite, “it’s a mental health issue.”

All the excuses are really making the same argument that nothing can be done about assault weapons with high-capacity magazines killing families, babies and innocents in general. This week among the dead was an 18-month-old baby. When asked what can be done the Governor of Texas offered up “prayer.”

Well, there are plenty of prayers in Texas today and none of them will prevent the next mass murder of Americans, coming to a movie theater, church, or concert near you.

But the truth is different from the merit of not discussing the issue or hoping that prayer alone will end the needless deaths.

The truth is moms and dads, sons and daughters, all have the right to live in peace, to have their families safe in church, safe in school, and safe in public and at home. And the politicians who tell us nothing can be done, forget one solution: they can be removed from office and replaced with people who will act to stop the endless cycle of death.

What can be done by people who value safety over absurd gun laws that protect and invite the insanity of semi-automatic armories in the hands of angry men?

If the beginning point is firing every congressman or woman who promises prayer is our only solution, then we can begin examining solutions that have worked in other places and that make common sense once again rule over protecting the indefensible.

First, is there a uniquely American problem with gun homicides? If you even wonder in the least, consider these numbers: Gun deaths by 1 million people are 1.4 in Australia, 1.9 in Germany, 5.1 in Canada, and 29.7 in America. Do we have a unique gun problem? Absolutely.

Australia addressed their gun problem in 1996, making semi-automatic weapons illegal, creating stricter licensing requirements and enforcing registration. Additionally the country undertook a buyback program of the banned weapons. Since then the world has not ended in Australia, but gun deaths have fallen, by 2007, to the lowest level in 25 years.

Said simply, the plan worked.

Here, in America, large majorities of Americans want laws to prevent the mentally ill from purchasing guns; background checks for private gun sales and at gun shows; creation of a federal database to track gun sales; a ban on assault weapons, and a ban on high capacity magazines. We can do all of that and still protect gun rights.

But the National Rifle Association rules the current congressional assembly with an iron fist, and in order to pass responsible gun regulations we must name and note the congress people with “A” ratings by the NRA and fire them from congress.

We can make our families safer, our streets safer, and our country safer.

We can, but only if we act against those who argue the only answer is prayer.

 

Jim Crawford is a retired educator and political enthusiast living here in the Tri-State.