Gun Control, Gun Violence, Gun Safety, and…

The MA Chapter participates on an important coalition that is addressing guns and the use of guns that kill people. The group is silent on the subject of guns for hunting or sport. I think the majority of folks on either side of the ‘Gun Controversy’ (for or against legislation that limits guns in some way) are agreed on at least one point: Guns should not be used to kill people, at least in a non-war environment. (Please don’t interpret this statement as an acceptance of war as an ‘o.k.’ exception.) I am not addressing war situations in this blog. I am talking about those situations where guns are used to kill people in a civilized society: this includes homicides, mass killings as at Columbine and Newtown, and rampage shootings.

An interesting twist has occurred as the coalition works to craft a policy or language for legislation. Some of us in the group ( NASW is one) want to focus on promoting gun safety, others want to use the approach of stopping gun violence.

All of us are concerned with enacting a public policy standard that keeps people safe without infringing on the constitutional amendment that allows for gun ownership.

Mother Theresa once asked if she would join a group that ‘’opposed war’ she said she would not, but she would support a proposal that ‘Advanced Peace’.

I am from the school that looks at what is possible – what we could do rather than ‘what we should not do.’

What are your thoughts?