More guns make people less safe: A Florida echo opinion

No, sorry, more guns won't make us safer | Opinion published in the Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper, by Alan Grayson.

Former Congressman Alan Grayson ~ opinion

On the day of the tragic shooting at Terminal 2 at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport, I had the misfortune of listening to right-wing talk radio during a long drive. 

Discussion turned to what could have been done to prevent the attack, and I heard that sad but persistent fallacy: "If only the other passengers had been armed . ..."

And when Nikolas Cruz killed 17 students and staffers at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, President Truhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/17/us/politics/live-congress-votes-scott-pruitt-epa.htmlmp advocated arming teachers.

No, sorry. It doesn't work that way. 

Subjecting the victims to crossfire does not make them safer.

When the Second Amendment was ratified, it took two minutes to load a musket. Esteban Santiago, the accused Fort Lauderdale shooter, fired 10-15 rounds in just over one minute. At Parkland, Cruz fired around 150 rounds in three or four minutes. Does anyone seriously believe that a bystander with a gun, possibly under attack himself, could have disabled the killer that quickly?

If "more guns" meant "more safe," we'd be the safest place on Earth. America is the only country with more guns than people. We also have the 11th highest "firearm-related death rate," more than one death each year for every 10,000 people.

Here is a list of annual gun homicides, as reported by the Washington Post:

Japan: 11

S. Korea: 14

France: 35

England: 41

Spain: 90

Germany: 158

Canada 173

Italy: 417

U.S.: 9,960

Inside the United States, Alaska has the highest rate of gun ownership, twice the national average. And the highest rate of gun deaths, twice the national average.

We are awash in guns, and — no coincidence — we're awash in mass murder. 

How could we possibly make it easier to buy a gun? In Florida, if you're 18 years old, you're not a convicted felon, and you don't have an adjudication of mental illness or drug abuse, you can buy a rifle, and as much ammo as you can carry. One-third of us already own guns. What are we supposed to do? Make it mandatory?

There certainly are lessons to be learned from these attacks. Santiago, the airport shooting, suspect suffered a mental breakdown serving in Iraq, when he saw two friends blown up. He was under psychiatric care. He tried to strangle his girlfriend. He told the FBI that the CIA was forcing him to join ISIS, and that he heard voices in his head urging violent acts. 

The police took away guns away from him, twice!

And gave the guns back, twice.

Lesson One: Don't give the guns back!!

(MaineWriter note ~ the heinous murder at the Tennessee waffle house on Sunday April 22, 2018, was carried out by a mentally ill man whose father returned his guns to him, after the Secret Service and police had revoked them!)
Santiago used a semi-automatic weapon. Any semi-automatic weapon makes it all-too-easy to kill too many people, very quickly. So why did he stop? He ran out of bullets.

But in Parkland, Nikolas Cruz not only fired around 150 shots, but he also had more than 180 rounds left over, in six 30-round magazines.

Lesson Two: A ban on high-capacity magazines (which eight states now have) can save lives.
When tragedies like these occur, just ask a simple question: "What could have prevented it?" The answers are there.

Former Rep. Alan Grayson represented Florida's 9th District in Orlando where many of the Pulse nightclub shooting victims lived. In the wake of that massacre, he introduced a permanent assault weapons ban bill, called the "Freedom from Fear Act."