Milwaukee Post
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/100931
12 ��� Milwaukee Post ��� December 28, 2012 OPINION Making sense of the gun debate Middle ground elusive on shifting playing field By JESSICA MCBRIDE J.B. Van Hollen says he isn���t sure new gun laws are needed and suggests we put armed police officers in schools (every school? That would be a lot of police resources). Sheriff David Clarke screeches angrily about liberals and sheep and advocates putting armed security officers in every single movie theater in the state. And the governor wants to endorse smaller government (irony alert here) by having government monitor and track thousands of Wisconsinites who have never been convicted of crimes. Meanwhile, on social media and the Web, people shout at each other, with the left screeching that the Second Amendment doesn���t matter and all guns should be banned and the right screeching that leftists are emotional and gun control talk is part of some nefarious conspiracy by a tyrannical government that might someday turn its military against the populace. Note to the left: We can���t just disregard constitutional Amendments because you feel like it. Note to the right: Last time I looked, our government had nukes. So good luck to those of you with assault weapons! Both the left and the right had some points. Our gun laws DO have some loopholes and no amendment is absolute. All restrictions on amendments are about a balancing test between the rights granted within them and the need for public safety. For example, we have freedom of speech, but we can���t libel or threaten people or cry fire in a crowded theater. We have freedom of assembly, but Clarke���s deputies could shut down a protest if the protesters sat down in the middle of the street and blocked traffic. We have freedom of religion, but we wouldn���t allow polygamy even in the name of it. Walker���s proposal doesn���t do much for due process or privacy. The Second Amendment also is not absolute. Society already accepts restrictions on its rights ��� most people agree with laws banning felons from possessing firearms, for example. However, the right has points, too. Some people confuse function with appearance when it comes to assault weapons. Most of the school shooters didn���t use assault weapons. The shooter in the Newtown tragedy acquired his guns by stealing them from his mother, who bought them legally. We should take care in the wake of tragedies not to emotionally rush to solutions that wouldn���t have fixed the problem ��� or that go too far in that balancing test regarding rights and public safety. I tend to look at the causes of the Newtown tragedy as multifold. I think we should analyze culture, especially violence-saturated video games and movies and an Internet culture that depersonalizes and disconnects. It would be nice if Hollywood voluntarily chose to make gratuitous gun violence go the way of the cigarette on screen ��� that is, disappear. It could influence generations. I am waiting for the left to pressure ITS campaign contributors in Hollywood. We should analyze the treatment available to the mentally ill, although in this case, it sounds like the shooter���s mother tried. We should understand that there is such a thing as evil that we will never truly understand and work to build a stronger spiritual foundation in our country. And, finally, yes, it���s worth taking a look at our gun culture. I do wonder, however, why the president hasn���t held similar speeches in our carnage-torn inner cities. I also suggest that there are ways we can improve gun public safety by largely focusing on the non-law-abiding. If this tragedy has highlighted that, even if the fixes wouldn���t have prevented it specifically, I say good. Here���s what I mean: In Wisconsin, it is possible to purchase a gun from a private seller with no background check. I believe this should be changed. Also, in Wisconsin, you can carry a gun ILLEGALLY repeatedly and it never becomes a felony. I believe this should be changed, so it���s akin to OWI laws ��� you face increasing penalties the more you do it, rising to a felony. I believe that straw buying in Wisconsin should be a felony. That���s where people legally buy guns with the illegal purpose of transferring them to those who cannot. I don���t believe it���s right that people with repeated criminal convictions should qualify for concealed-carry permits in Wisconsin, even though I feel that a properly crafted concealed-carry permit is the right thing to do because I don���t fear the law-abiding. And although perhaps all criminal misdemeanors shouldn���t disqualify a person, some should, especially if the offenses are repeated. I feel we should consider mandatory minimums for illegal firearm possession in this state. And I feel that judges should not have discretion to allow people with domestic violence restraining orders to turn their guns over to relatives. They should go to police. And, yes, I feel that we should allow properly trained superintendents and principals to carry guns in schools, just like we allow airline pilots to carry guns in cockpits. I am not afraid of the lawabiding. Rather than shouting at each other, I suggest we focus on finding the areas where common ground might exist. (Jessica McBride is a member of the journalism faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Waukesha resident. Her column runs occasionally in The Post.)