Peter Graffagnino of Bridgeville is a retired educator.
Mr. Jeff Hague, in response to your Opinion, let’s deal with the main issue pertaining to gun control in the United States (“Second Amendment is being threatened”). I have always been an advocate for “full disclosure” pertaining to where our elected officials get their campaign funding from. To believe that they aren’t sympathetic to individuals or groups who write them checks for six, seven, eight digits or more is ridiculous. If you are a politician and get your pockets lined in cash, of course you are going to most likely be beholden to that individual or group when the time comes.
Let’s look at the Parkland, Florida, shooting as a perfect example. After that high school shooting, with multiple children killed, and on national TV, a student moderator turned his attention to then-U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who was in attendance at a rally. He asked Rubio, in front of this national audience, to stop accepting donations to his campaign fund from the National Rifle Association. Rubio looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding car and said nothing! The laws pertaining to the sale of legal or illegal firearms will continue to play second fiddle to the almighty dollar until our politicians come clean. In this case, the campaign-funding laws need to be addressed, to hold our elected officials responsible for how and why they accept money from third parties with special “financial” interests.
As far as what other countries do regarding this issue, most of the more stable nations, with populations of over 10 million, have found ways. They, as a whole, are quick to react. They are not burdened with laws written hundreds of years ago that no longer serve the population, depending on what side of the fence one sits on. One thing is for certain: Somehow, some way, we have to find a way to stop the killing.
Let’s once again look at the countries who reported their average number of deaths by guns in any given year. These are countries with populations of over 10 million and are considered high-income entities:
France reported 2,000-plus; Germany, 1,000; Canada, 875; Italy, 800; Saudi Arabia, 534; Chile, 500; Spain, 300; Australia, 240; Belgium, 228; Portugal, 211; United Kingdom, 160; and Sweden, 152. And the winner is, with over 40,000 firearm deaths per year on average, the United States of America!
Most of these countries acted quickly to educate their residents about same and “officially” acted to see that such events do not happen again. And, in the United States, we see the carnage on TV and read about it in the papers and online, and do nothing! One gets the impression that these events are just part of our culture! No, they are not! It’s murder, plain and simple, because our representatives won’t touch the subject and risk losing their financial backing! So, the carnage continues.
And, in the United States of America, where we average approximately 40,000 deaths by firearms a year, yes, a good number are from suicides — many of which were children because they had access to their parents’ firearms, which were not secured properly at home. Why such a large number? you ask. The better question to ask is, when are our elected officials going to have to report, in full-disclosure format, where their campaign money comes from? My bet is never! Because, like the former senator from Florida, our officials do not want any of us to know why they do not touch this subject, since their jobs depend on the general population to be kept in the dark, due to the possibility of them being voted out of office.
I could list numerous examples of what other countries have done with this issue, but let’s look at just one. When a gunman in England walked into a school and began shooting with a handgun, killing young children, the government was quick to react. It instituted a partial ban on all handguns throughout the nation, almost immediately. After a short period of time, officials realized that their efforts were not enough. They backtracked and issued a total ban on all handguns throughout England. England is not alone with its efforts. Other countries on the aforementioned list have taken similar actions to protect their populations. But not the United States!
The bottom line is that the United States leads the civilized world in the number of firearm-related deaths year after year, thanks to our representatives being bought by special interest groups. It appears that they are fine with that.
For what it’s worth!
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
