All the rhetoric about ISIS operations in every state, does not frighten me nearly as much as the good citizens of my own state. Ohio has several new proposed gun laws that you may find shocking. If you are about to dismiss this report because you don't live in Ohio, you might want to rethink that move. Ohio is 27th in gun trafficking to other states.
These new laws would allow all citizens to carry concealed guns with no license or permit. One law bans the establishment of a firearms registry. They would expand the places a person can carry their guns including places of worship, day care facilities, planes and airport terminals, colleges and universities, government facilities, police stations, and school safety zones. We already allow guns in bars, parks, and sporting events. The new proposals would ban the police from seizing a gun without a ton of red tape which gives the criminal time to get rid of a gun that has been used in crime. This is the most outrageous of all: one law intends to ban the use of devices that barricade school doors in the event of an active shooter in the building. The 2nd Amendment crazy nutcases want a shooter to have total access to our kids! They want zero restrictions on their rights to strut around carrying firearms. I believe our forefathers are spinning around in their graves. This is not what they intended! That is why they made provisions that the document could be amended in the future.
I was tempted to fill this entry with lots of statistics, but I was overwhelmed with data. For current updates go to the Gun Violence Archive. Ohio ranks 31st in highest number of gun deaths. 40% of our sales are unlicensed. We have a marked increase in violent crimes involving fire arms: homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, suicide are on the rise. The Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence estimates the cost to be $229 billion a year. Domestic violence and the number of deaths where an innocent child has found a gun that was not safely stored breaks my heart. I'm afraid to drive for fear I might unintentionally cut off another driver and he'll pull out his gun. We've had several instances of road rage like that. Gun violence is rampant all across America. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, white, Hispanic, or black, rural, suburban, or metropolitan, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. If you live in America you have a greater chance of dying by gunfire than in any other country. Your taxes are higher to pay for the gun violence.
No other nation world wide experiences our level of gun violence because they enforce real safety laws. We can't do that because of the vague way our forefathers wrote our
Constitution. We passed the 2nd Amendment before technology created assault weapons and before we had mass shootings. Now we have printers that allow anyone to make their own gun. I am a proud patriotic American with great respect for the framers of our constitution, but it is time to rewrite a new amendment that strengthens our guns laws to protect the citizens of this nation. It is our constitutional right to live without fear of getting caught in the crossfire. It is time to stop the NRA from donating to politicians and buying political favor.
New laws will not stop every shooting, but it is a step in the right direction. We must take a serious look at our culture of violence. TV, Movies, video games, even some of our popular music glorify guns and killing. Surely we can have free speech and thrilling entertainment with less graphic violence.
Improving mental health programs and increased funding for social services, doing more to fight heroine addiction and drug trafficking, and providing decent jobs that pay a living wage will all help reduce violence. This brings me right back to the topic I usually rant about: income inequality and the Republican agenda of helping those at the top get wealthier. There are no funds for these improvements.
I'm a retired teacher with serious health issues. I'm tired! I'm tired of asking when will the hard working, kind, generous, patriotic members of the middle class unite and organize. When will we demand change and when will we take America back from Wall Street and all the unregulated huge conglomerates? When will we tell the idiots in the tea party we've had enough of their hateful rhetoric and demands for austere budgets? It is past time to make the Constitution of the United States work for all American Citizens!