After every mass shooting, the discussion is deflected from the issue of the guns themselves: It’s too soon, it’s about mental health, only a good guy with a gun will stop a bad guy, and the newest distraction is we just need to arm the teachers and all will be fine.
Try to deflect us all you want from talking about the guns, but tell us why any Joe Blow can buy all the weapons of war he wants, why anybody can go to a “gun show” and buy semi-automatic weapons, kits to make them virtually fully automatic, large-capacity magazines, bullet-proof vests, armor-piercing rounds, and thousands upon thousands of bullets.
Please stop with the “don’t mess with my Second Amendment.” The Second Amendment doesn’t allow anything and everything! You can’t have your own armored tank, surface-to-air missiles or 50 caliber full automatic machine guns. By all means, keep your personal firearms, but we must eliminate these weapons of mass destruction.
Finally, it’s not just about schools (as horrendous and shocking as that continues to be). It’s about nightclubs, workplaces, outdoor concerts and wherever the next mass shooting happens. These mass killings have to stop — period.
Brad Rouillard, Salt Lake City
