This past Sunday a gunman opened fire at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, killing seven people and injuring four more. This came on the heels of last month’s Colorado theater shooting, where twelve were killed and scores more injured.
Both tragedies have reignited the gun control debate. Law enforcement in every big city — from L.A. to the streets of Boston — face the unenviable task of keeping firearms out of the hands of would-be criminals.
Today Boston Public Radio begins a series of discussions on what can be done, from renewing an assault weapons ban, to restricting internet sales and strengthening background checks.
Josh Sugarmann, the Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., said the reason guns are a leading source of death in the United States is because of easy access.
“They are the key facilitating tool to homicide in this country; they are the leading suicide tool. I think the big question is what do you expect of gun violence on our nation?” said Sugarmann. “If you look at the U.S. and the free access we allow to virtually any type of firearm compared to Western industrialized nations, the fact is that we’re paying too high a price for the easy availability of firearms in this country.”
Sugarmann said high-capacity magazines need increased scrutiny, as they were used in the Wisconsin and Colorado shootings.
“[They give] the ability to basically use superior fire power against private citizens,” he said. “Things like assault rifles are derived from military weapons that were designed for anti-personnel use.”
Richard Feldman, a former National Rifle Association lobbyist and president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association, said bad actors make it difficult to predict when tragedies will occur.
"It's not about crime, it's not about theft or holdup, or domestic anger. It's just craziness," Feldman said.
Recent polls show Americans split on gun control. Feldman said Americans on both sides of the issue have more common ground than they realize.
"There is almost universal agreement between pro-gun advocates and anti-gun people. We all want to keep guns out of the hands of violent, predatory criminals and mental incompetents," said Feldman.
The bigger issue is that guns haven't been a first-tier legislative priority as of late. In the wake of recent tragedies that could change quickly.
“[We] don’t focus on this issue until something truly horrible happens … when people tend to think of gun violence, they tend to think of somebody else,” says Sugarmann. “When it’s in a place they go to — their church, their movie theater, a restaurant — and there’s a mass shooting, that wakes them up and gets them thinking about the issue.”
