Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Gun madness must stop

Sunday, March 5, 2000 | 9:16 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

When you write about gun safety issues, you shouldn't go off half-cocked.

Ha. Ha. Actually, when you write about anything having to do with guns in Nevada you risk life, liberty and sanity because, for some reason, when it comes to guns for Silver Staters, they remind you of that very popular slogan, "When it comes to gun laws, just say NO."

Come to think of it, that slogan was aimed at drugs in an effort to educate our children to know when to say "no," although a case can be made today that gun deaths and their fallout may be every bit as paralyzing to the health, welfare and psyche of our country as drugs have been.

I know this is not the kind of issue for which people will readily change their minds. In many cases people and their guns have been family forever and the thought of giving them up is the same as asking them to forsake one of their own. Excuse me. Did I say give their guns up?

That was a mistake. In truth, I said it on purpose because that is the retort by the National Rifle Association (NRA) every time anyone even tries to talk about sensible gun laws. One side says we can't allow our children to keep killing our children and the NRA says we want to take the guns away.

Sanity suggests that gun locks are a way to help prevent accidents at home and unthinking deaths at school and the NRA says "they are trying to take our guns away."

Some very bright and well-intentioned lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans, try to force background checks at gun shows and swap meets like they have in retail stores and gun shops across the country, and the NRA says, "they're still trying to take our guns away."

The result is that nothing sensible ever happens because the NRA is one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington, and that means their dollars not only speak to the congressmen but yell so loudly that they cannot hear well enough to do the right thing.

I own guns. And while I am not a typical gun owner, I do understand the mentality of those who are and I have no real problem with their emotional attachment to and investment in their weapons. But when all I get from those on the other side is "they're not going to take away my guns," it makes a rational discussion difficult, to say the least.

So, let's break it down. As far as I know, nobody with any degree of sanity and an understanding of the Constitution of the United States is suggesting that government or anyone else get into the business of taking the guns away from law-abiding citizens. Some very smart people, though, are suggesting that we take every reasonable step possible to make sure that guns do not get into the hands of bad guys.

In this case bad guys are lawbreakers as well as children and others who lack an ability to understand the reality of firearms. They include every one of the horrific killers who devastate our schools, workplaces and homes because they are too weak, stupid, misunderstood or crazy to properly handle a gun.

Who can possibly oppose the concept of keeping guns out of the hands of bad guys? And, by the way, we are too far down the road in the society of Y2K to reply with the old standby that only criminals will have handguns. That's baloney. Every law-abiding citizen who wants them can own guns. But in being owners, can't they relent to a few small requests by the rest of society, which will be the potential victims of those weapons?

Can't gun owners agree that safety locks or some other mechanism designed to keep a child from grabbing Dad's gun and blowing a young friend away, because he didn't know the gun was loaded or just wanted to "scare" someone, is a good thing and in no way inhibits a citizen's right to keep and bear arms?

Can't gun owners agree that allowing criminals and mentally deranged individuals to drive their trucks through the loopholes of swap meets and gun shows so they can buy weapons that kill to their heart's content, is not a good thing for America?

And can't we agree that 13 children dying each and every day because the NRA won't let sanity prevail in the U.S. Congress is a bad thing that needs to be stopped? If not, how many more kids will have to die before we act?

Twenty a day? Perhaps 100? Yours? Mine? When will it stop?

Is it possible to run out of kids? Or just their innocence?