Responsibility and education is needed regarding guns

As quickly as Jared Loughner shot his Glock model 19, 9mm semi-automatic handgun into the crowd at a Tucson Safeway on Jan. 8, killing six people and wounding 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, many demanded more stringent laws governing guns in this country.

The right to own a firearm was placed in the U.S. Constitution, “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” and that statement as ratified by the states is open to much interpretation.

High-profile mass shootings which the Tucson shooting will be classified based on the previous examples of 10 such incidents listed by the Washington, D.C.-based Violence Policy Center propel guns and gun laws to the forefront of topical discussion.

Which is why the Five Towns Democratic Club had Colin Weaver, deputy executive director, of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence speak at their monthly meeting at the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library on Jan. 18.

Weaver, who previously worked as a legislative aide for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and on criminal justice legislation for New York City, noted his organization supports the Second Amendment. But with a caveat.

“No right is absolute, he said. “We support common sense regulations that will keep guns out of the hands of criminals and policies that will better protect public safety.”

Akin, to Tom King president of the Troy-based New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, which is affiliated with the National Rifle Association, Weaver said that New York State has “very strong, sensible gun laws.”

“That’s why we have to push for strong national laws,” said Weaver, who noted that his group supports background checks when gun purchasers buy from a federally licensed dealer at a gun show and microstamping that uses laser technology to make a microscopic mark on the firing pin of a firearm creating a ballistic “fingerprint.”

However, though King said he would “absolutely” join the conversation on background checks regarding people with mental illness the National Instant Background Check already exists for federally licensed gun dealers. He also opposes microstamping.

“It doesn’t work,” said King who noted that a study by the University of California at Davis showed it didn’t work and a law was passed nearly six years ago in California instituting the technology, but it has yet to be implemented as the Attorney’s General office is waiting for it to become “viable technology.”

While taking questions at the meeting, Weaver said that coupled with national laws, more education is the way to show people, especially children that using gun violence to resolve conflicts could be avoided.

He pointed to the after school program his group began at Brooklyn’s High School for Public Service that teaches the students skills to avoid conflicts and becoming involved in gangs. “It is the most popular program in the school and we had to take it out of a classroom and move into the cafeteria,” Weaver said.

Cedarhurst resident Eliza Brown, 20, a college student, who interned at the Nassau County Medical Examiner’s office last summer received an eye opening education about what damage gun fire can do to the human body.

“You see these people lying there with an immense, immense amount of damage,” said Brown, who is not a gun owner and thinks the need for high-capacity weaponry is unnecessary. “Of course I believe in the right to bear arms, but we should have psychiatric evaluations and background checks. Not give a gun to everyone.”

King said there are upwards of one million hunters and four million gun owners nationwide, but private gun ownership is statistical insignificant in its contribution to gun violence and crime. “We’re not the problem,” he said, adding that his group never is asked to join in on creating legislation.

Building contractor and Woodmere resident Carol Sullivan, 60, a licensed gun owner thinks that the existing legislation is enough to handle the issues. “Government is extremely reactive instead of proactive, [the Tucson shooting] is a tragedy of enormous proportions. If somebody is truly evil they will find a way to do damage. What we need is responsibility on everyone’s part.”