by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read the original in Noozhawk by clicking here)
What’s so funny about gun violence? Nothing is ha-ha funny, of course. However, it’s funny in that it’s amazing that there are so many points of agreement about solutions among Americans along the political spectrum. We ought to be able to do this, people.
At last, it may be happening. Thousands of gun deaths after our own mass shooting in Isla Vista in 2014 and exactly 10 years since the shooting rampage at the Goleta postal plant that left six dead, folks are coming together around a basket of reasonable changes that can reduce violence without impinging improperly on our freedoms.
As promised in my last column, I’ve summarized common sense suggestions from of an organization called the Prevention Institute.
If these make sense to you, check out their website and see how you can be part of the solution for Santa Barbara and the rest of the U.S.
1. Gun safety: Establish a culture of gun safety, beginning with mandatory training and licensing, along with safe and secure gun storage. At the very least, gun ownership requirements should mirror driver’s license applications.
2. Mental health treatment: Ensure accessible, high quality mental health treatment through the Affordable Care Act. While gun ownership has been rising, mental health services across the country have declined.
3. Trauma reduction: Reduce children’s exposure to violence and address the impact of trauma by implementing recommendations from the Attorney General’s Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence. From the report: “Our children are experiencing and witnessing violence on an alarming scale… The good news is that we know what works to address children’s exposure to violence.”
4. Sensible gun laws: Implement reasonable legislation that includes banning high capacity magazines, expanding the 24-hour gun background check to make it universal and reinstituting the assault weapons ban immediately.
5. Comprehensive solutions: The Department of Justice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration and the Department of Education need to take input from communities and citizens to identify solutions in the immediate term. Some solutions will differ among communities, but too much has been piecemeal to benefit society overall.
6. Safe communities: Support citywide planning and implementation of comprehensive violence prevention plans that include prevention, intervention, enforcement, rehabilitation and reentry.
7. Public health solutions: Scientifically study the roots of gun violence, the leading cause of premature death in the country, and strategically develop solutions.
8. CDC-based studies: Entrust the nation’s public health agency to perform scientific rather than politically oriented studies. The CDC currently is restricted from making recommendations on sensible ways to reduce gun violence. The petition here requests Congress to lift the ban.
As the Prevention Institute website demands, “We should be able to send our children to first grade, pray in our houses of worship, celebrate with friends and colleagues, feel safe in our own homes, and walk through our streets and neighborhoods without fear of being shot. Together, we can take action in the memory of those who died and insist that this never happen again.”
This column is dedicated to the memory of one of my dearest friend’s niece. Meagan was a beautiful soul who died by gun violence last summer at age 20.
Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist
Karen Telleen-Lawton is an eco-writer, sharing information and insights about economics and ecology, finances and the environment. Having recently retired from financial planning and advising, she spends more time exploring the outdoors — and reading and writing about it. The opinions expressed are her own.