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Solutions to mass shootings
Idahoans deserve to live without fearing for their life--whether at the supermarket, school or home. Incidents of gun violence around the country have rightly focused efforts to protect communities, especially our children. Effective and implementable solutions require addressing the driving factors behind heinous acts of gun violence, such as; strengthening shortcomings in our mental health system, hardening the protection of our schools, and enforcing existing laws against known violent criminals and those adjudicated to be an imminent threat of violence.
Far and away, most Americans are law-abiding citizens, including those who own, possess, carry and use firearms, in a lawful and peaceful fashion. Their right to do so is specifically protected by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. That right must not be abridged while we seek to prevent violence perpetrated by those individuals who are mentally ill, criminals or terrorists. Congress recently passed and the President signed into law S. 2938, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which I voted against because it will abridge the rights of law-abiding citizens through gun ban/confiscation programs, also known as “red flag laws.” That is why I was asked to share my thoughts on what must be done to curtail mass shootings.