Crowley, M. (2000, March 2). Gun control returns to the fore on campaign trail. The Boston Globe, p. A11.

OVERVIEW

On the last day of February, 2000, a six-year-old child took a gun to class where he shot and killed his first-grade classmate, Kayland Rolland. The young shooter lived in a house described as a drug house, without even a bed of his own. The boy’s father was in prison, and neighbors say they have never seen his mother. He had been described as an angry boy, had gotten into fights and trouble, and was scheduled for counseling the following week. But the night before, he found the loaded gun in his house lying under some blankets.

The news that same evening also told of a Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania gunman who went on an angry rampage shooting five men—two in the head. By the next day, gun control was back in the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign.

The succession of school shootings—as well as the shooting of five people at two Pittsburgh restaurants—brought scutiny to the candidates’ positions on how to control gun violence.

The day after the tragic shootings, Texas governor George W. Bush was questioned by reporters. " ‘I hope people will use trigger locks,’ " he responded. Yet, he did not ask for such legislation. John McCain, senator from Arizona has similarly voted against a gun-show background check, bans on assault weapons, and a waiting period in handgun purchases.

According to Joe Sudbay, political director for Washington’s Handgun Control, says there is little difference between the positions of Bush and McCain, on the one hand, and Gore and Bradley, on the other. " ‘The real distinctions are between the Democrats and Republicans. Both Bush and McCain are strong supporters of the gun lobby and neither have proposed licensing and registration measures.’ "

Vice President Al Gore and Senator Bill Bradley "talk frequently about measures to toughen background checks, to require trigger locks on new guns, to create licensing and registration systems to track firearms used in crimes, and to require owners to learn gun safety measures…Bradley would ‘go much farther,’ in his words, by requiring that all of the 65 million handguns in the country be licensed, and that even current owners pass safety courses and be registered."

An NRA fund-raising letter in October, 1999, read in part: " ‘Al Gore never met a gun control proposal he didn’t like—while George Bush has staked out just the opposite position.’ " On his Web site, John McCain says:

‘I can’t see how we tell a law-abiding citizen who wants to purchase a firearm for the purpose of protecting his or her family that they must wait to exercise that right.’

Two days after the shootings, President Clinton seemed to answer that question (on the "Today" show). He asked how we can require citizens to be tested and licensed to drive cars or to walk through metal detectors at airports but say it is too much trouble or contrary to the Constitution to require similar safety in regards to possession and use of handguns and assault weapons.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. What is your opinion on (U.S. Constitution) the second-amendment freedom of all citizens to "bear arms?" What is your position on gun control?
2. How do you explain the dramatic difference in the handgun deaths of children in the USA and Canada and European countries? Do you consider the United States a violent society?
3. How would you explain the dramatic difference between Republican and Democratic Party positions on gun control?
4. Do you think the NRA gun lobby (and other lobbies) have too much control over U.S. legislators and politicians?

IMPLICATIONS

1. In terms of the Second Amendment, the mythology of our country dramatized in popular movies and television shows, the popularity of gangsta rap, and eye-catching segments of the evening news, and the statistics on violent deaths, it is difficult to say that America is not a violent society. At the very least, the U.S. seems to be suffering a crisis of violence among young and old.
2. Availability of guns is not the only, or even the most important, reason for school shootings or domestic killings. But accidental and impetuous killings are certainly made easier, and will occur more frequently, when it is easy for anyone to obtain these lethal weapons.
3. It would seem sensible to move, step by step, to a sensible licensing for hunters, sports-persons, and collectors. It may be that improving the security of our communities will have to precede restrictions on guns for protection.

Dean Borgman cCYS