Tag: sensible gun control

Former top military advisers urge Congress to pass gun background checks bill

Retired Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is among the former military advisers and leaders urging congressional leaders to pass a universal backgrounds check bill. Credit: John Medina, Getty Images file photo

Ex-leaders are part of veterans coalition organized by Giffords’ group

More than a dozen retired top military commanders, leaders and advisers, whose careers spanned both Republican and Democratic administrations, are throwing their weight behind a bill in the House and Senate that would require universal background checks for all U.S. gun sales.

In a letter Thursday, 13 former top military advisers and combat leaders urged congressional leaders in both parties to pass the bill, known in the House as HR 8, which targets private gun sales that don’t require background checks under current federal law.

“A prohibited person with dangerous intent can easily buy a gun over the internet or in a parking lot with no questions asked,” the military advisers wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer.“For those of us with extensive firearms training, who have seen the damage inflicted by a powerful weapon in the wrong hands, this is simply unfathomable,” they wrote.

View the complete February 21 article by Griffin Connolly on The Roll Call website here.

Gun Owners And Non-Owners Actually Agree More Than You’d Think, Study Shows

The following article by Carly Cassella was posted n the ScienceAlert.com website May 23, 2018:

So…. where’s the problem?

Credit: IndiaUniform, iStock

The issue of gun rights is one of the most politically-loaded and hotly debated issues in the US. Yet despite all the squabbling, a surprising new survey suggests that when it comes to gun control measures, most Americans are on the same page.

The survey, which polled more than 2,100 Americans, reveals a majority of both gun owners and non-owners support laws that would restrict or regulate gun ownership.

“There’s much more agreement than one would think given the rhetoric and the fighting,”says David Hemenway, an expert on violence prevention at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study. Continue reading “Gun Owners And Non-Owners Actually Agree More Than You’d Think, Study Shows”

America’s Youth Under Fire

The following article by Chelsea Parsons, Maggie Thompson, Eugenio Weigend Vargas and Giovanni Rocco was posted on the Center for American Progress website May 4, 2018:

The Devastating Impact of Gun Violence on Young People

Introduction and summary

Credit: MConnor, Morguefile.com

On February 14, 2018, 14 students and three staff members were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, by a single shooter armed with an assault rifle. This horrific massacre galvanized the nation’s attention to the issue of gun violence, particularly as it affects young people in this country. However, the scope of gun violence as it affects America’s youth is much vaster than this most recent mass shooting. Gunfire has officially overtaken car accidents as one of the leading killers of young people in the United States.1 As of publication time, since the beginning of 2018, 820 teens ages 12 to 17 have been killed or injured with a gun.2 As mass shootings become more common and more deadly, a staggering 57 percent of teenagers now fear a school shooting.3 Continue reading “America’s Youth Under Fire”

The trouble with the White House’s spin on Trump and guns, in one exchange

The following article by Callum Borchers was posted on the Washington Post website March 12, 2018:

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on March 12 said President Trump “hasn’t backed away” from previous proposals to help prevent mass shootings. (Reuters)

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did her best on Monday to argue that President Trump is not backing down but rather prioritizing on gun control.

A newly released administration plan calls for improving reporting to the existing background-check system for gun buyers and training some educators to carry firearms in schools, but it does not propose raising the minimum purchasing age for military-style rifles from 18 to 21, an idea Trump previously endorsed. Instead, the plan directs a commission led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to “study and make recommendations” on “age restrictions for certain firearm purchases.” Continue reading “The trouble with the White House’s spin on Trump and guns, in one exchange”

New poll: Most teenagers and adults think arming teachers is dangerous, favor minimum age for buying assault rifles

The following article by John Sides was posted on the Washington Post website March 9, 2018:

Frustration is boiling over on both ends of the political spectrum at the inability to stop mass shootings, but many still can’t agree on a path forward. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

In the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., the activism of the students at is uncertain, the Florida state legislature on Wednesday passed a bill to impose a three-day waiting period for most purchases of long guns, raise the minimum age for purchasing those weapons to 21, and allocate funds to improve school security and train and arm school employees.

Now, a new poll shows what both American adults and teenagers feel about measures like those in the Florida bill. The poll was conducted online by the firm SurveyMonkey from Feb. 26 through March 5. In total, 20,975 adults were interviewed along with 733 teenagers. (Further information about SurveyMonkey’s methodology is here, and more details are below.) Continue reading “New poll: Most teenagers and adults think arming teachers is dangerous, favor minimum age for buying assault rifles”

The right to bear muskets (1791) and bear machine guns (2018)?

The following column by Jason Jenkins was posted on the Sun-Sailor website March 1, 2018:

The Second Amendment was passed in 1791, giving the right for ordinary citizens to bear arms. Congressman Erik Paulsen has accepted nearly $32,000 in contributions from the National Rifle Association according to a full page ad in the Feb. 21 New York Times. He favors the NRA’s contention that we can’t mess with the Second Amendment, particularly in a state that has thousand of hunters, myself included. I have nothing against guns and have several myself, but an AR-15?

I have guns including a stainless steel Martin hunting rifle, and, at home, I have a .38-caliber revolver, which seems more like a handheld cannon than a handgun. But even with this tiny legal arsenal, I have more firepower than any patriot had in 1791 when the Second Amendment was passed. Remember that was the era of the front-loaded musket, which had a barrel of 3.5 feet – not a concealed weapon. With practice, an accomplished marksman could load three rounds per minute. And, Hollywood movies notwithstanding, it was highly inaccurate. That is why soldiers would stand together and let loose a barrage of bullets hoping they would hit their target at a rate of three rounds per minute. Continue reading “The right to bear muskets (1791) and bear machine guns (2018)?”