Column: Gun deaths, part 2

By Scott Walker, M.D.

Dear Neighbors,

Now, and for the foreseeable future, America will have more guns than people.

Now, and for the foreseeable future, gunshot wounds will be the leading cause of death among children under 18.

We have recent, scientific evidence that loosening gun ownership and gun carry rules increases childhood deaths by firearms.

We all see this, and we do nothing. Most of us know a family that is affected by a firearm tragedy, whether it be an accidental injury, deliberate violence, or suicide. We have been affected and we know that without change, our children’s children will be affected.  Let’s do something.

Politics is sometimes called, “The Art of the Possible.” On the issue of gun safety, many possible things are not being done. 

For example, we could make it the default that firearms, open or concealed, are not allowed in state buildings and county courthouses.  We could make it standard procedure to seize and destroy any firearm carried in the commission of a crime.  We could better enforce waiting periods and background checks.  We could expand Red Flag rules.  And of course, we could borrow the Republican maxim that, “the things you don’t like, tax.”  We may not be able to ban the sale of new firearms in Wisconsin, but we could tax the heck out of it.  Why?  Because we have enough guns!

I predict that we will soon better regulate guns.  I predict that soon, when large NRA donations are but a memory, politicians will realize that there’s hay to be made in tightening down on guns and reducing firearm deaths.  Everybody except Joni Ernst is opposed to premature deaths. 

“The art of the possible” will get us through this time of division.  Our president tries to divide us among many lines of cleavage, including wealth, color, state and how recently our parents arrived here. But we are one nation. The basic mechanics of a nation will remind us of this.  

We must work together, Democrats and Republicans, to do things as fundamental as keeping the Interstate Highways paved.  There are a thousand more examples, but in fact, we all enjoy a functioning infrastructure, and people committed to community service will come together to agree how best to go about these thousand things.  The results will remind us:  we believe in democracy, in fairness and giving everybody a chance to succeed.  

We’re going to need to keep those shared values very much in the forefront, as we work to maintain respect for one another.  The politics will be tumultuous, but the Art of the Possible stays the same:  people of good will, working together for the betterment of all.  More than people think, it works.

So how about it, elected leaders?  Who will be the next to take up the cause of reducing firearm deaths in children?