Blogger’s note: This article was originally written in 2012.

I get it…guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people. But with over 300 million guns owned legally and illegally in the United States, and more being purchased every day, the opportunity for violence using guns is ever present. I’ve been told violence using guns has been going down over the past several years and this is a good thing, but is the violence that is still occurring acceptable?

At this point I don’t feel there is any way to control the ownership of guns in this country, and for certain in most of the countries outside of Western Europe and England. Guns are too plentiful and easily obtained. They can be legally purchased, given, purchased from gun shows and from private parties, or stolen. The use of guns for hunting, target shooting, and other types of sports has a long tradition worldwide and there are even Olympic sporting events involving shooting.

For over 200 years the exact meaning of the United States Constitution’s 2nd amendment has been debated and the Supreme Court currently does not see any limitation on gun manufacture, type, and ownership not strictly prohibited by legislative action. And due to intense lobbying by interested parties to not impose limitations, effective legislation is very unlikely to be enacted.

So how can there be any reduction in the use of guns for violent means in the United States? Should semiautomatic rifles and automatic hand guns be outlawed the same as sawed off shotguns? What about all those that are already owned legally and those that have been modified to be fully automatic? How would they even be found, and then what?

The United States has grown up with the use of guns and other ordinance. From the settlement of the east coast to the Revolutionary War, to the War of 1812, to the Civil War, to the decimation of Native American culture during expansion to the west coast, to WW1, to WW2, to the Korean War, to the Vietnam War, to the two Gulf Wars, and now war in Afghanistan and covert actions all over the globe.

The use of guns has been romanticized through dime novels, movies, television, and now the vast proliferation of violent video games. Has this had any effect on the desensitizing of people’s attitudes toward the use of guns? Hopefully the majority of video game players, movie goers, and TV viewers can differentiate between what they experience vicariously versus reality. But do they all? I’m sure we may never know, no matter how much study on the subject is done.

It appears to me however, most people empathize for a short time when gun violence occurs someplace else, but it is much more devastating when it occurs “close to home.” After the events in Connecticut last week there will be great heart-wrenching, legislative debate, and intense lobbying. And in the end little of substance will be done.

So, is there anything that can be done to limit or eliminate the use of guns and other weapons in the commission of crimes?

In my opinion there are several things that should help:
1. Require a waiting period and background check for gun sales at gun shows.

2. Limit the capacity of ammunition clips.

3. Require effective gun safety education for all legal gun sales.

4. Establish an education campaign concerning gun safety and storage in the home and in businesses.

5. Hopefully find some way to better identify persons with mental health issues, or those that display violent behavior, and get them help.

6. Find a way to educate persons working in public institutions such as schools, religious and volunteer organizations, government, businesses, and other groups to recognize issues that may require counseling. This however, will require special care to not interfere with personal privacy, free speech, or cause paranoid accusations.

7. Find a way to encourage and educate better and more effective parenting.

I understand some of the above are “pie in the sky” solutions and difficult to achieve at best, but something has to be tried to reduce the senseless slaughter of innocent people.

In my lifetime I have experienced a major erosion of our personal freedoms due to terrorist and violent behavior. We can’t let our children play or go places alone, parents are giving their kids cell phones at very young ages so they can keep track of them and their safety at all times, schools are locked down during the day, armed guards are in some schools, and on and on. We are creating a generation of paranoids, including myself. I used to enjoy going hiking and camping by myself, but now I am reluctant to do so for fear of my vehicle being vandalized, being robbed, or worse. What are we becoming?

Ken Kaiyala
12-14-2012

4-6-23 Addendum: Since I wrote the above article, there have been hundreds of mass shootings in the United States alone. This is far more than any other western country, but this type of violence is rising everywhere. I still hear people decrying the senselessness of it, and I hear demands for legislative action for a short time after the event, but nothing of substance is done and life goes on until another mass shooting occurs somewhere. Then this cycle of reporting, uproar, grieving, polarized debate, inaction, and violence with guns happens again. WTF! Now I have vented some of my thoughts. Let’s hear some of your ideas.

10-30-23 Update: There have been over 500 mass shootings in the United States to date this year. There were several this past week.

9-5-24 Update: And so it continues. As of this date, 385 people have been injured or killed by gun violence in the United States this year. A mass shooting is defined by the FBI as four or more persons being injured or killed in a single event.

Anyone care to comment?