BY KYLE LOVERN
School shootings and workplace violence are terrible, but taking guns away from everyone is not the answer.
I have my concealed permit. I’ve had it for a few years now. West Virginia has a reciprocal agreement with several other states, including Kentucky, where if you have a permit, it will be honored in those states.
Thankfully I’ve never had to use a gun, and I certainly hope I never do. But it’s good to know I can protect myself or my family if necessary.
If a law-abiding citizen takes and passes a gun safety course and pays for a license in his state of residence, he should be able to have a gun on his person or in his vehicle.
The Constitution states, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” It’s the Second Amendment.
If you take guns away from law-abiding citizens, criminals will still get guns. Statistics show that. All you have to do is look at the research to see there are plenty of illegal guns sold on the market. It would be like the old saying, “Letting the fox guard the hen house.” You might as well open the door for him. The criminals will – and in some cities – are – taking over.
Those who hunt should be allowed to purchase their shotguns, deer rifles and ammunition.
At the same time, I’m OK with stricter laws for background checks. Someone with a history of mental illness should not be able to purchase an AR15. However, even if they don’t pass a background examination, they would likely get the guns on the black market.
Then you have those who want to defund the police. How is that working for San Francisco? Crime is up in many cities that have cut the budget for law enforcement. Cities like Chicago and Seattle did the same, and homicides and other crimes have risen substantially.
However cities like New York City, Oakland, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Los Angeles are planning to reinstate millions for the construction of new police precincts and increase police department budgets, among other plans to bankroll more efforts to confront the uptick in crime. This is after they saw crime increase.
It’s a shame when the criminals are better armed than the police officers, deputies and state troopers. All law enforcement officers should get extra training and have the same firepower as the bad guys. Not just their side arms like revolvers or 9mm pistols. It’s not fair for them to roll up on the scene and not be able to engage in a situation and have to wait on swat teams.
The recent shooting in Louisville hit close to home. Apparently a disgruntled bank employee came in on a Monday morning with an automatic rifle and murdered five employees and wounded several more. Officers were able to take him down, but not before two of them were shot. The shooters apparently had some mental health issues. So a red flag needs to go up when someone like this applies to purchase a firearm.
Some politicians have wanted to send social workers, instead of police officers, to scenes such as domestic disputes. Those kinds of emergency calls can be the most dangerous for law enforcement. But they want to send an unarmed social worker into a possible tragic situation?
Many good, law-abiding citizens safely own and operate firearms. It would not be fair to them to take away their guns. There may be a time when one of your neighbors saves your life or the life of your loved one.
The funding needs to be increased not only for more police officers but to pay for trained security at schools. There are ex-military or retired police officers that are looking for jobs and could be trained again and placed at a high school or middle school.
Prohibition didn’t work back in the 1920s.
The Prohibition Era began in 1920 when the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors, went into effect. Prohibition was difficult to enforce. The increase in the illegal production and sale of liquor was known as “bootlegging. This just led to illegal drinking spots known as “speakeasies,” or saloons and bars that still sold alcohol. There was a rise in gang violence and organized crime.
The same thing will happen with gun control. If you ban guns, they will still be available.
Many in Appalachia and rural America believe that guns are needed for self-defense from threats ranging from local criminals to foreign invaders and that gun ownership deters crime rather than causes more crime.
Gun control laws do not deter crime, but gun ownership deters crime is the more conservative viewpoint.
Those with a more liberal belief don’t think this is the case. They might change their opinion if they are ever the victim of a violent crime.
Cities where the police were defunded and many officers resigned for the lack of support have seen an increase in crime. We are now seeing a reversal in some of those budget cuts.
Although school and workplace shootings are horrible, gun control is not the answer.
(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)