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PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JUNE 24, 2016 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Do nothing or do something We, as a nation, have made a choice on mass gun shootings. We will do nothing. We will send thoughts and prayers. We shake our heads in disbe- lief. We ask ourselves how this can happen again and again. The massacre of 20 children in Connecticut, the killing of 14 people in California, the murder of 49 people in Florida and the hundreds of other shooting deaths by gun should bring about changes in gun laws—they haven’t. Support of second amendment rights has overpowered any common sense legislation that is backed by a vast majority of Americans. Suggest- ed legislation regarding background checks, waiting periods and assault weapons ban. The latest skirmish is over whether people on the government’s no-fl y list should be prohibited from purchasing a gun of any kind. Some don’t want to violate the rights of those who have not been convicted of a crime, only suspected of having terrorist sym- pathies. As one U.S. Senator said, if a person is a known to have actual ter- ror plans, they would be under arrest; you can’t buy a weapon when you are sitting in jail. The 1994 assault weapons ban was a victory for gun control advocates, however the ban expired in 2004 and has never been reinstated. Intense lob- bying efforts assured that a ban on assault weapons would never see the light of day. Enthusiasts say that semi-automatic assault weapons are needed for self- defense, hunting and sport. It takes verbal gymnastics to rationalize the need for the average citizen to get their hands on such weap- ons. There are plenty of other guns that can be used for self-defense, hunting and sport. Support for gun rights is so strong that even a ban on assault weapons is cited as the fi rst step on a path to the elimination of all personally- owned guns. That’s the boogie man that is conjured up every time any re- form is called for. Except for a very small sliver of some parts of society, no one is advocating that the government burst into houses and confi scate peo- ple’s weapons. That will not happen, even the most disinterested person would say that banning gun owner- ship by the public is wrong. Debate over second amendment rights will go on. If it is a right to own and carry a gun—which is a personal choice—then other rights need to be fought for and maintained as well. The right to bear arms should not be more important than the right to free speech, freedom of religion or free- dom to control our own bodies. Whether one is a strict Constitui- onalist or one believes the Constitu- tion is fl uid and must be intrepreted to our times, the rights it accords to the people never go away. Those who cite rights in one area of the people’s lives must also support the rights in other areas. This country can have any gun control laws or any law that maintains personal freedoms it wants. It will take millions of dedicated people across the nation to have as big a voice in the gun debate. They have to mobilize by donating money to and voting for like-minded candidates. Or they can choose to do nothing. —LAZ editorial Security and rights of the USA Per the news media, Amer- icans supporting the ISIS agenda are not attacking their fellow Americans on a daily basis although their murder- ing interests and actions have reached a fairly threatening, “Who’s next?” not thereby knowing which innocent lives will be taken during the next club night out, while seeing a movie, by going to a mall, or simply by sitting with work friends to celebrate a Christian holiday. While this writer hesitates to encourage rights infringements, is it not high time for doing more about those among us who show alarming signs of killer-to-be behaviors? For just one among the killers, take the case of Omar Mateen, formerly of St. Lucie County, Florida. His com- ments on the Fort Hood shooter were so worrisome that his boss, the local sheriff, transferred him from his post at a courthouse. Yet long before, even back when he was a pre-teen, his behavior was marked by constant outbursts and classroom insubordina- tions where he could not conform to any school rules. Between 1992 and 1999, he had a record of 31 discipline problems for general school disrup- tions and specifi c incidents of physi- cally attacking other students. Documents show that as early as third grade, he was verbally abusive and aggressive during which times he used violence and obscenities. In fourth grade he was known to physi- cally harm other students, talk out in class, and scream at fellow students and teachers. He was moved from school to school but never shaped up to demonstrate anything even re- motely resembling socially acceptable behaviors. In his marriages, he beat his fi rst wife enough to end in divorce and frightened his second enough not to alert the authorities when she knew about his plans at Pulse night- club in Orlando. In 2013, at age 26, Mateen worked as a private security guard for G4S Secure Solutions USA, Inc. at St. Lucie Coun- ty Courthouse in Fort Pierce. He’s remem- bered there for his in- fl ammatory comments, including a statement that Fort Hood, Texas shooter Nidal Hasan was justifi ed in killing 13 people while injuring 30 more. Further, Mateen constantly made derogatory remarks about women and Jews enough that the FBI was notifi ed about his statements. As seemingly too often takes place now- adays, the FBI would not conclude he was a terrorist risk. Current events suggest strongly that it’s time that people like Mateen and others, who demonstrate time af- ter time, as he did, that they are highly likely to murder their fellow Ameri- cans, must be dealt with by enforcing measures that place them, temporarily or permanently, under confi ning cir- cumstances until they’re able to dem- onstrate behaviors of responsible con- duct. Would such interventions cost money? Yes, of course, probably a lot. However, while we continue to spend billions of American dollars in pointlessly unsuccessful warring in the Middle East, while our nation continues to send our fellow Ameri- cans to long prison terms for smoking marijuana and other misdemeanors, and while we are willing to give ath- letes and their coaches billions of dol- lars to play games that offer “enter- tainment” to those who want to see blood and injury without an ounce of redeeming social value to a nation in trouble, then we should demon- strate some intelligence, using in- vestment interventions into the lives of Americans hell-bound on kill mis- sions. Realistically speaking, by hook or crook, mad and bad people can get any kind of gun in this country so we must fi nd preventive strategies and employ them to effective results. gene h. mcintyre (Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap- pears weekly in the Keizertimes.) Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com SUBSCRIPTIONS NEWS EDITOR Eric A. Howald editor@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Derek Wiley news@keizertimes.com One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY ADVERTISING Publication No: USPS 679-430 Paula Moseley advertising@keizertimes.com POSTMASTER Send address changes to: PRODUCTION MANAGER Andrew Jackson Keizertimes Circulation graphics@keizertimes.com 142 Chemawa Road N. LEGAL NOTICES Keizer, OR 97303 legals@keizertimes.com EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com BUSINESS MANAGER Laurie Painter billing@keizertimes.com Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon RECEPTION Lori Beyeler facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes Fighters don’t always use fi sts By ERIC A. HOWALD Keizerite Thomas Lucas sat in the second-to-last row of more than 700 graduates participating in the Chemeketa Community College commencement ceremony Tuesday, June 14. He had a long wait, but I’d used my press pass to get on the fl oor of the Pavilion at the Oregon State Fairgrounds where the event was held. Thomas saw me taking pic- tures of him prior to taking his seat and fl ashed me a double thumbs-up along with a big grin. I found a chair about 30 feet away from his spot and we passed time trading yawns, funny faces and countdowns of how many rows were left before his turn to walk across the stage. All I could think about was how Thomas shouldn’t be there, but Thomas was defying odds long before we met a little more than a year ago. Shortly before his 19th birthday, Thomas was in Arkansas riding his bike home from one of his two jobs when he was struck by a car, then dragged behind it when the bike chain wrapped around his arm and the undercarriage of the vehicle. He woke up six weeks later in a nursing home. His mental capacity had been reduced to about that of a 7-year-old because of a traumatic brain injury. Thomas was working two jobs at the time of the accident because he was paying for training at a local pro wrestling school, he had big dreams of a career in the squared circle. And, just like that, the dream vanished. He had to relearn most of the things that the fully-abled take for granted, but he progressed quickly. By the time he moved back to his dad’s home in Oregon four years ago, he’d already earned a pair of educational certifi cates, but he’d never fi nished high school. Around February 2015, counselors at Oregon’s Vocational Rehabilita- tion Services connected him with the moments of lucidity Thomas Lucas Mid-Valley Literacy Center where I had been tutoring GED students for a less than a year. From the get-go, Thomas was an eager learner. He was unafraid to join in discussions, readily asked questions and helped me discover that I could push the students in the class harder than I had up until that point. How- ever, the foundation of our bond was pro wrestling. I was a toddler when I fi rst started attending pro wrestling events, and knowing a bit about his passion for the sport meant we were rarely at a loss for things to talk about. In September of last year, Thomas enrolled in GED classes at Cheme- keta where he had a more intensive program, and access to special test- taking facilities that met his needs. He would drop by MVLC oc- casionally, and then he would come by my offi ce to let me know how he was doing. Two months ago, the text messages started rolling in. He was passing the GED tests on the fi rst at- tempt in every subject, leading up to his graduation last week. When Thomas started taking GED classes at MVLC, the administrators of the program were telling students and tutors it would likely take a year- and-a-half to two years to complete the program and pass all the tests. Thomas, who is still dealing with the impacts of his brain injury, did it in a year and two months. Even before graduation, Thomas was already plan- ning his next steps – a degree in social work or education. My heart swells thinking about it. It took the assistance and support of a lot of people in two states to get Thomas to this point in his life, but Thomas is the one who deserves the lion’s share of the credit. He had many opportunities to stay down on the mat or tap out but, like any good pro wrestler, he keeps shaking his fi sts and rising back to his feet. For me, it’s an honor and a privi- lege to be part of the crowd – be- cause he’s putting on the show of a lifetime. (Eric A. Howald is the managing editor at the Keizertimes.) Is the gun lobby fi nally cornered? By E.J. DIONNE JR. A political crisis is usually preced- ed by an intellectual and moral crisis. Dominant ideas that once seemed to hang together lose their hold when they are exposed as contradictory and incoherent. Similarly, moral claims made on behalf of a worldview can, gradually or suddenly, come to be seen as empty. Demoralization comes before defeat. This is what happened in the So- viet Union. A corrupt and dictatorial system fell for many reasons, but its demise became inevitable when even those with an interest in mouthing the old slogans and defending the old ideology came to realize that almost everyone around them thought they were extolling bunk. But a crisis can also develop around particular issues in democratic coun- tries. This is what’s happening now to those who maintain an absolutist posi- tion in opposing all new measures to limit the use of fi rearms. The contradictions of the gun lobby’s worldview are not new, but it has taken a terrorist hate crime at an Orlando nightclub to force even the most slavish congressional followers of the National Rifl e Association to rethink whether they can continue to resist every effort, however modest, to prevent violence. Those of us who have long favored what we typically call “common-sense gun laws”—including background checks, an assault weapons ban and restrictions on the ability of terrorism suspects and the mentally unstable to buy guns—have always seen the abso- lutists’ position as nonsensical. This is why we consider our ideas “common- sense.” Judging by most of the polls, a majority of the country agrees with us. The truth is we already ac- cept the need to subject the right to bear arms to reason- able restrictions. Otherwise, we would repeal laws regulating the own- ership of machine guns and rocket- propelled grenade launchers. (Imagine the bumper sticker: “If RPGs are out- lawed, only outlaws will have RPGs.”) Those on our side of this debate cannot understand how earlier hor- rors, particularly the mass murder of children at Sandy Hook, did not change the hearts and minds of our opponents. Surely something is terri- bly wrong with laws that make such mass killings routine in the United States in a way they are nowhere else in the democratic world. But even very moderate legislation was defeat- ed. What makes Orlando different is the clash the attack revealed between two powerful impulses of contempo- rary conservatism: the refl exive hostil- ity to gun restrictions and the incessant assertion that we must do what it takes to protect the United States from ter- rorism. If you believe the second, you really can’t believe the fi rst. This has always been true, but the murder of 49 people by a terrorist made the incon- gruity so stark that Donald Trump was moved to suggest he would talk to the NRA about ways to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists. One can be skeptical about wheth- er Trump will go beyond the NRA’s ineffectual solutions to the problem. But Trump’s verbal shift was a telltale sign of an intellectual system that is other views crumbling. And the demoralization of one side in a debate is often accompanied by new energy on the other. This is why the Senate fi libuster last week to force votes on gun restrictions led by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., was so im- portant. There was power to Murphy’s wit- ness itself, coming as it did from a politician whose constituents include the families who suffered grievously at Sandy Hook. And his rejection of business as usual showed that the long accumulation of massacres has broken the patience of those demanding ac- tion. It was a signal that advocates of sane gun laws have moved off the de- fensive. Since the NRA-inspired backlash against the gun laws passed in the 1990s, Democrats have been paralyzed by the fear that taking a strong stand on guns would be electorally hazard- ous. The rallying to Murphy and also Hillary Clinton’s aggressive use of the gun issue in her presidential campaign suggest that the toll taken by mass shootings is changing this political calculus. After Orlando, it’s the gun-sanity rejectionists who are feeling the pres- sure. It takes time for new political re- alities to take hold. The gun lobby still has many obedient followers in Congress. The Republican Party is still dominated by those who will do whatever the NRA tells them to do. Nonetheless, even the most fer- vently held dogma is not immune to reality and logic. The collapse of the opposition to reasonable steps toward making us a safer country may not happen all at once. But it is in sight. (Washington Post Writers Group)