Joseph Sanberg, founder CalEITC4Me
In the wake of another horrific mass shooting, many gun control advocates seem to have accepted defeat before the debate even begins.
It’s hard to blame them. Every time, the NRA wins by treating any attempt at tightening gun control — no matter how feeble and innocuous — as an all-out assault on liberty, and gun control advocates play right into their hands by asking for less and less each time. We propose gun control measures so mild, so reasonable, that surely no one could possibly object to them (remember the bill to ban bump stocks after Las Vegas?). And yet each time, the NRA and their allies do object.
We have to stop debating on their terms. I’m tired of asking for the bare minimum of “common sense” measures and coming away empty handed. I’m tired of hearing that “gun control doesn’t work” from the same people who ensure that it never gets the chance.
We need to dramatically reduce the number of guns in this country, and we need to make it much harder to buy them. We have to start challenging the false notion that the Second Amendment gives any American citizen the right to unlimited firepower, no questions asked.
In order to fix our toxic relationship with firearms, we need to normalize the notion that not everyone has the right to own lethal weapons.
