July 27, 2016
Page 7
O PINION
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Blocking Common Sense Gun Reform at Every Turn
Dallas shooting
debunks the
myths
– as though dangerous mental
instability is written across some-
one’s face.
“It’s my belief he would
have passed a background
check,” the man said. But
it wouldn’t have mattered,
by m arC h. m orial
not in Texas. Federal law
One of the more
requires only licensed gun
unsettling revelations
dealers to conduct back-
about the tragedy
ground checks. Millions of
in Dallas is that the
guns are sold each year on-
mentally unbalanced
line or at gun shows through
gunman was reject-
ed, after a background check, for private sellers. Felons, domestic
membership in an extremist group
but was legally able to purchase a
high-capacity assault rifle.
According to media reports,
Micah Johnson was labeled
“unfit for recruitment” among a
network of extremist groups, in-
cluding some designated as “hate
groups” by the Southern Poverty
Law Center.
Yet within months of that re- abusers, the violently mentally
jection, Johnson was able to meet ill are able to acquire firearms
in a parking lot with a gunseller and the law does nothing to stop
he contacted online, and take them.
More than 90 percent of Amer-
possession of a military weapon
designed to slaughter human be- icans support universal back-
ings as quickly and efficiently as ground checks. Legally-required
background checks have blocked
possible.
In what kind of a world do we more than two million gun sales
live when hate groups that actual- to dangerous people since the
ly encourage violence against law system was instituted.
Maybe Micah Johnson’s back-
enforcement officers are more
circumspect than our current fire- ground would have slipped past
the system. Seung-Hui Cho, who
arm safety laws?
The man who sold Johnson the killed 32 people and wounded
AK-47 said Johnson appeared 17 on the Virginia Tech campus
during their 15-minute meeting in 2007, was banned from buy-
ing guns because a court found
him severely mentally ill. But he
passed a background check be-
cause his records never made it
into the system. And if the current
system wouldn’t have deemed
Johnson’s bizarre behavior a red
flag for a gun purchase, it certain-
ly should have.
The background check data-
base must be complete, and the
types of incidents that warrant
prohibition must be thoroughly
examined.
attack took place were armed.
Not one of them managed to stop
Micah Johnson with a gun.
Every modern study concludes
that more guns equal more crime.
Right-to-carry laws are associat-
ed with significantly higher rates”
of aggravated assault, robbery,
rape and murder. American chil-
dren are sixteen times more likely
than children other high-income
countries to be killed in gun acci-
dents, with as many as 100 chil-
dren dying each year.
The background check database must be
complete, and the types of incidents that
warrant prohibition must be thoroughly
examined.
Prior to the attack in Dallas,
each mass-shooting incident in
the United States has prompted
a bizarre chorus calling for even
more guns in our society. “The
only thing that stops a bad guy
with a gun is a good guy with a
gun,” as the saying goes.
Setting aside the impossibility
of distinguishing a “good guy”
from a “bad guy,” there were
plenty of people with guns at
the scene of the Dallas massacre
and not one of them was able to
stop the sniper. The police were
armed. About 30 of the marchers
at the demonstration where the
Our firearm safety system is
broken – tragically, fatally broken.
Lobbyists for the firearm industry
hold our lawmakers in an almost
literal death grip, blocking com-
monsense reform at every turn.
Call your U.S. Senators and Con-
gress member and demand action
on gun violence. Learn the truth
about gun violence in America
and educate your friends and fam-
ily. And work for a nation that puts
the safety of its citizens ahead of
profits for the gun industry.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League.
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