I know that I am not alone when I say with confidence that Congress has a moral obligation to take clear and concise action on guns. Why, some might ask, would you want to take away guns from law-abiding citizens? On what grounds do you propose to rip away the Second Amendment, our treasured right to bear arms? These arguments seem valid at first until you start delving into the facts.

The facts are that 96 Americans die every day from gun violence, and that seven of those are children under 19. The facts are that for each of those killed, two more are injured, not even factoring in the pain inflicted on those who have lost loved ones or friends. This kind of gun violence does not occur in other developed countries, and in fact the United States hads 25 times the homicide rate of other developed countries. This is an epidemic, and it should be treated as one.

Congress should pass even stronger background checks, fix some gaping loopholes, restrict or ban assault weapons (grandfathering in current owners, of course), limit the size of gun magazines, regulate the transfer of guns and force people to take a mental health test as part of background checks.

Really, is doing this harming law abiding citizens? No, not in the slightest, because if you have no intent to do anything bad with your gun, then you should not fear any of these provisions. And onto the Second Amendment argument; federal appellate courts have already ruled that military weapons are not part of the Second Amendment, and when the founding fathers wrote it, guns took a minute or two to reload, and were much less fatal than modern firearms. Seven in 10 americans now concur that stronger guns laws need to be implemented, and many of them are more than ready to stop bullets with their ballots, in elections around the nation.

In short, Congress needs to start debating and passing stronger gun laws now, or come November’s elections, they better start packing their bags.

Sam Husemann

Snoqualmie