What Do We Do About The Guns?

I think all of us in the Triangle are still in shock at the unnecessary and violent death of UNC Student Body President Eve Carson. Our society has lost an intelligent, joyful and energetic contributor to making America and the world a better place in which to live. We are perhaps in the same shock that is most likely still haunting the parents of those students who were victims at Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois Universities and Columbine.

On March 18th the U. S. Supreme Court heard verbal arguments about the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.'s ban on handgun ownership. The argument will revolve around the current efforts by the gun-rights lobby to reverse the current judicial interpretation (a long established judicial precedent, 1939 U.S. vs Miller) that the right to bear arms is a collective right for a "well-regulated militia" and not an individual right to bear arms. [Thus the D.C. ban is constitutional]

Much is at stake with this Supreme Court decision. Whichever side of the argument you favor, our collective society has some choices to make about what we will continue to allow to occur in our society and whether we are able to enforce the laws that are already on the books. Existing laws attempt to keep these weapons out of the hands of juveniles, felons and mentally disturbed individuals. The enforcement of these laws however, and the lack of strict laws in many states, make it far too easy for national gun trafficking to occur. Handguns, legal and illegal, wreak a horrible toll on Americans. Here are some statistics to ponder: