BRACK: Let’s have some real gun sense in S.C.

By Andy Brack  |  Somewhere recently on Facebook, I came across a cartoon that showed a guy sitting on a beach enjoying a drink.  The caption read something like, “Another sunny day on the beach in Australia without an outbreak of gun violence.”

The same can’t be said for America.  An average of 90 people a day die somehow in the United States because of a guns.  In the 35 years since musician John Lennon was shot five times in the back by a man with a revolver, more than 1.1 million Americans have died because of guns.  In fact, records show more people have died from guns since 1970 than in all wars fought by Americans since the Revolutionary War.

Gun violence is out of control.  And yet, the nation sits on its haunches doing virtually nothing.  Congress cowers to the gun lobby, which stays on message that guns don’t kill people but people do.  

Umm, that’s kind of the point — people using guns kill people.  We make it too easy for them to get guns.  And gun killings happen far too often.   What we’re doing in America isn’t working, as evidenced by massacres in Newtown, Charleston, Aurora and now San Bernandino.  Instead of continuing to embrace public policy that allows massacres to continue, why don’t we try something new — as Australia did following a massacre in Tasmania?  

After 35 people died in Port Arthur in 1996, Australia essentially banned assault rifles and put strict controls on who could have handguns.  It did not, however, eliminate guns.  Hunters and sportsmen still have shotguns and rifles.  Handguns are permitted, in special situations.  The point is, however, is that the Australians really keep up on who has guns and regulates them so there’s not a Wild West culture in their neighborhoods and on their streets.

Any thinking person knows you’ll never get rid of guns in America.  But with Congress paralyzed, there are some things state and local governments can do now, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear an Illinois case.  The decision was a loss for gun owners who challenged a 2013 law by one town that banned  ownership of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.  Similar laws in New York and Connecticut have been upheld.

So if the place for real action to reduce gun violence is closer to home, maybe South Carolina legislators should seriously consider some of the 15 common-sense measures introduced last week:

Ban assault rifles.  If you don’t want radicalized Muslim extremists or radicalized Christian or domestic American terrorists to shoot up public places, maybe it needs to be harder for them to get these guns.  Any real hunter will tell you that you don’t need an AK-47 to hunt deer.

Require permits for purchases.  In North Carolina, anyone who wants a handgun has to get a permit from the state, which gives authorities time to make sure it’s O.K. for the person to have one.  Once a permit is granted — and it doesn’t take too long — the person can buy any handgun he or she wants.

Finish background checks.  Federally-licensed gun dealers today are required to do background checks on people who want guns.  While more than 90 percent of checks are completed in a few minutes, authorities have three days to finish any that aren’t vetted through a computer system.  If they’re not done in three days, sales can go through.  Some new proposals call for a waiting period — or for background checks to be completed — before sales can be finished.

Close loopholes.  More than 40 percent of gun sales are thought to be done through the Internet or at unregulated gun sales, according to federal research.  Requiring background checks for those sales outlets likely would reduce gun deaths.  According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, California saw a 57 percent drop in gun deaths by 2013 after it closed the loophole in 1990.  And what happened when Missouri repealed similar background checks?  Gun murders went up 23 percent.

It’s time to listen to these kind of practical proposals by a new grassroots group, Gun Sense SC, to reduce gun violence.  Gunning up hasn’t worked.  Let’s try gunning down.