After Monday’s awful massacre in Las Vegas, many want to know if this will finally be the tragedy that brings political conversation about gun control to end in action and results.
This is not about taking away your precious guns, but regulating things such as bump stocks — devices that can be put onto semi-automatic weapons which allow them to mimic the capabilities of automatic weapons. National databases should also be used to make the purchase of a firearm as well-known as the purchase of Sudafed.
A CNN article from Oct. 6 states that, “The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 … sets daily and monthly limits on how much [pseudoephedrine (i.e. OTC drugs such as Sudafed)] a person can buy … The most common way of keeping track of these purchases is the National Precursor Log Exchange … When it comes to firearms and ammunition, there is no federal limit to how much you can buy, nor is there a national database of purchases.”
The Trump administration, however, doesn’t want to talk about gun laws because now is “not the time,” and we should be “sensitive” and not “politicize” the tragedy.
However, a moment needs to be taken to point out some hypocrisy from President Trump.
On June 3, 2017, the London Bridge attack, for which ISIS claimed responsibility, occurred. Want to know what Trump tweeted about that day in response? His travel ban. What did he tweet about five times two days later? His travel ban.
On Sept. 15, the day of the London metro bombing, Mr. President tweeted “Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!”
He followed that tweet with, “The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!”
What was that about “respecting the victims” and “not politicizing a tragedy” by talking about legislation to mitigate the chance of a repeat event while people are still recovering from their attack?
Also, those who don’t want to address terrorist attacks with legislation such as the travel ban are too worried about being “politically correct” and are “too sensitive”. Those “sensitive” people want to address this attack with legislation, but now they aren’t being sensitive enough? Which is it, Mr. President?
In an interview with Kellyanne Conway earlier this week, she criticized the media organizations and people talking about gun laws right now, saying “The conversation isn’t being had until tragedies like this strike.”
CNN’s Chris Cuomo responded, “That’s like saying ‘You guys never talked about Puerto Rico’s hurricane problems before the hurricane occurred.’ You have a crisis, and you deal with it in the moment.”
Let’s talk about the facts of the Las Vegas Massacre:
The shooter had an arsenal of 47 guns, investigators have said ­— 33 (most of which were rifles) of which authorities believed were purchased in the last year alone. There were at least 12 rifles fit with bump stocks found in his hotel room. Again, for firearms and ammunition, there is no federal limit to how much you can buy, nor is there a national database of purchases.
According to the former chief of firearms technology of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Richard Vasquez, there is also, “no equivalent federal requirement for reporting multiple purchases of long guns like rifles or assault weapons [as there is for handguns].”
If now is not the time to talk about gun laws, when is? How soon is “too soon”?
It is far more of an insult and far more insensitive to every single victim — the killed, the injured and the traumatized — to blatantly ignore that which is in place that allowed this heinous act to occur.
Now is the time to talk about guns.