Marcos Breton

0 comments | Print

Marcos Breton: Do we just accept guns' rising toll?

Published: Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
Last Modified: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 - 8:02 pm

According to Slate magazine, there have been nearly 2,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S. since 20 children and seven adults were massacred in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence estimates that 13,442 people have been shot in the U.S. in the seven weeks of 2013.

The Twitter feed @GunDeaths posts a tweet without comment on every gun death it becomes aware of. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, there were four entries for Feb 19.

They include: A 34-year-old man killed near a Dallas bar; a 17-year-old male and a 24-year-old man killed in an Orlando, Fla., apartment complex; a young woman in her "20s or early 30s" killed near Indianapolis; and three people murdered in an Orange County shooting spree.

Like other gunmen of late, the Orange County suspect turned the gun on himself as law enforcement closed in on him.

With each incident, you wonder if there is a critical mass of public alarm over gun violence, as many claimed after the Newtown massacre.

Or, are we numb at this point? Even worse – are we resigned that nothing can be done?

On Tuesday, CalPERS, the largest pension fund in the U.S., voted to pull $5 million of investments out of Smith & Wesson and another manufacturer of high-capacity ammunition clips.

This was admittedly a symbolic gesture – a cap pistol aimed at a gun trade measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.

But the gun culture goes beyond money.

A man is sitting in a Santa Clara County jail cell for allegedly making disturbing threats against state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, after he proposed legislation to tighten loopholes in California gun laws.

Yee's legislation targets devices on gun magazines that allow shooters to quickly reload.

As it happens, the suspect who allegedly threatened Yee – Everett Basham – was in possession of assault weapons with detachable magazines, according to the Associated Press.

How much more of a direct correlation do we need between legally obtained, military-style ammunition and the threat to public safety?

What are we arguing about? Why does anyone in the public need such weapons?

Two months after Newtown, the lack of a public consensus on gun control calls into question whether the issue has reached a tipping point in favor of curbing access to dangerous weapons.

You keep hearing politicians say enough is enough, but where is the general public on this issue? Where are law enforcement leaders?

The bodies are piling up, but instead of action, we get lost in arguments over the Second Amendment or the belief that nothing can be done at all.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Read more articles by Marcos Breton



About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.

hide comments
Sacramento Bee Job listing powered by Careerbuilder.com
Quick Job Search
Buy
Used Cars
Dealer and private-party ads
Make:

Model:

Price Range:
to
Search within:
miles of ZIP

Advanced Search | 1982 & Older



Find 'n' Save Daily DealGet the Deal!

Local Deals