Sensible Gun Control

The most recent mass shooting incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, is just the latest horrific indicator that we have to enact sensible gun control measures in the United States.  I support reenacting a federal ban on the purchase of assault weapons and expanded magazines by private individuals.  I support universal background checks on all firearms purchases, a ban on “bump stocks”, and the enactment by the states of “gun violence protective orders”.  “Gun violence protective orders” would allow a person to petition a court to take away the firearms of a person who is proven to be a potential threat to use his or her firearms unlawfully, and are similar to the “family violence protective orders” that are now available in most states, including Georgia.

 

 

These sensible measures would not infringe on the Second Amendment right to bear arms, as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the D.C. v. Heller decision.  The Supreme Court in that decision, authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, indicated that the Second Amendment did not prohibit the government from regulating or even prohibiting certain types of firearms, such as large assault weapons.

These measures would make our communities and schools safer by addressing the repeated episodes in recent years of mass shooting incidents around the country.