Calls for gun safety must not fall on deaf ears

Like many of you, I was shocked and heartbroken over the tragic shooting in Tucson that left six people dead, including U.S. District Judge John Roll and the inspirational 9-year-old, Christina Taylor Greene. Thankfully, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the target of the attack, has been recovering.

President Obama’s tremendous speech at last Wednesday’s memorial service helped turn a tragedy into an opportunity to unite Americans. He also highlighted the critical need in this country to addresses our current gun control laws.

The 22-year-old, deranged alleged killer, Jared Loughner, used Giffords’s popular “Congress on Your Corner” event at the local grocery store as an opportunity to shoot her at close range. He unleashed a fury of bullets, striking 18 other innocent bystanders as well.

How did Loughner come to be in possession of a handgun? He had a history of drug arrests, failed a U.S. Army drug test and was kicked out of a community college as a result of disturbing outbursts and run-ins with campus police. Instructors and classmates described him as “crazy,” “mentally ill” and “very hostile.”

Yet somehow, without incident, he passed the required FBI background check to purchase a semi-automatic pistol, the weapon he allegedly used in the deadly rampage.

Several of our local leaders have vowed to change federal gun-control laws in order to make it more difficult for an attack like this to ever happen again. Personally, I am a proponent of the Second Amendment, and throughout my career in the U.S. Senate I voted against bills that would have limited an individual’s right to own a gun.

However, there are always instances where certain gun-control measures are necessary. For example, I voted in favor of President Clinton’s 1994 measure that limited the manufacture of assault rifles for civilian use.