Now they’re
talking gun control

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

United States lawmakers are now agitating for the passage of measures that will restrict gun possession in their country which, recent reports say, has almost as many guns owned by individuals as there are people, that is, its total population.

This renewed interest in what they call “gun control” came up after the latest massacre of innocent people, in this case, the 20 little children in a primary school in Newton, Connecticut, who were mercilessly gunned down, together with six of their teachers, by an apparently gun-obssessed young man.

Several American senators have given statements about the need to restrict ownership and access to the deadly instruments, and some who had been advocating for the freedom of citizens to procure guns, including high-powered ones, have now indicated that they are having a change of heart and will support measures that would restrict their acquisition or possession.

The President of the United States himself has also indicated that he would be for the adoption of such restrictions.

Of course this will be another classic case of locking the stable after the horse has ran away. In this case, they will be imposing controls on the ownership and use of guns because they have been given very tragic examples of what a warped mentality that could lead him to kill without compunction, as many human beings as he can aim at.

There are some who philosophize that it is not the gun, but the person who has it who is the killer. There is some sort of twisted logic in that, but it is to be hoped that, this time the lawmakers of the biggest gun-owning country in the world will realize that they themselves may have been to blame for not seeing far enough to realize what the free and uncontrolled access to guns could do to peace-loving people and communities like Newton, and all the other places in their country where similar incidents had occurred in the past few years.*