Here is my Sunday column…

Is this the tipping point?
Is this the moment in 21st
Century America when gun owners, and in particular National Rifle
Association members, realize that sensible gun regulations are needed?

The
horrific shooting of 20 young children in Newtown, Conn., surely has
shaken the nation to its core. In the midst of our national soul
searching, the NRA can spout its usual slogans – “guns don’t kill
people, people kill people” – but in this case, it wasn’t just people
who died, it was defenseless children between the ages of six and seven.

Twenty little kids.
 
As
incomprehensible as that seems, the one common factor that’s clear in
America’s shooting sprees, dating back to Columbine, is this: The
shooter is a young, white male with mental health problems.
Getting
these people the health care they need is an unnecessarily complicated
problem, but keeping guns out of their hands should be the nation’s
priority.

Yet, in Michigan, we are going backwards. A bill that
passed in the Legislature’s frantic lame-duck session would allow
concealed weapons in schools, churches, day care centers and bars. Worse
yet, it would permit those who undergo some additional training to
carry a pistol into a sports stadium.
Anyone who has ever
tailgated knows that football stadiums are filled with drunken, angry
men (especially at Lions games). Add a gun to that mix and you’ve
created the perfect Petri dish for mass murder. What’s next,
bullet-proof vests for referees?

In addition, the legislation
wipes out the one aspect of Michigan’s CCW system that holds a lot of
promise – the county gun board.
These gun boards, comprised of the
county sheriff and prosecutor and a state police representative, decide
who is or isn’t worthy of a CCW permit. Their latitude is limited by
state law, but they have some leeway to act instinctually.
Under
the bill awaiting signature on Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk, the gun boards
would be eliminated and the sheriff would have unilateral authority over
the CCW process.

Here’s a better idea: Expand all gun boards to a
fourth member, the director of the local mental health department. And
require that each gun board secure the assistance of a police
investigator.
Why is it that we always find out about the “warning
signs” these killers left behind after they commit their final cowardly
act of suicide?
During the CCW applicant’s standard interview
before the gun board, a mental health expert would surely serve as a
sensor who can sometimes detect personality disorders or disturbing
mannerisms. The investigator, at a minimum, would conduct a background
check that includes scrutinizing the permit seeker’s use of Twitter and
Facebook.

That sounds invasive, but I suspect the parents of those 20 dead schoolchildren in Connecticut would find it reasonable.

The
larger issue, of course, is the ease with which Americans can acquire
firearms. Apparently 40 percent of all sales occur outside the purview
of a criminal background check. Worse yet, nearly all of the mass
shootings our nation has endured were perpetrated by a young, white male
with no criminal record.
These people are not street thugs. They’re sick individuals.
Which brings us to the U.S.A.’s gun culture.
Hunting
is fine. Target shooting is fine. But too many men (and women) spend
much of their lives waiting for their Dirty Harry moment when they can
put their weapon to use on an intruder or a thief.
That’s not
going to happen. Despite all the anecdotes spread by the pro-gun groups,
most of the 32 gun deaths per day in the U.S. involve the shooter’s
spouse, other relatives, co-workers, neighbors or friends.

The
killer in Connecticut apparently grabbed three guns from his home, which
were registered to his mother, one of six adults he murdered. I suspect
as this story plays out, we will find that this young man displayed
obvious mental instability for some time, yet his mother never secured
her firearms.
The mother is described as somewhat of a survivalist
who collected guns, frequently went to a shooting range and taught her
two sons how to shoot. Somehow, she was not responsible enough to keep
her guns locked up, even as she reportedly worried about her son’s
erratic behavior.
One thing we know: The guns were not needed for
self-defense. News reports describe Newtown as a close-knit, almost
idyllic rural town. In the past decade, it had experienced one homicide –
until this lunatic got hold of those firearms – two pistols and an assault-style rifle — and killed 20 innocent
children.

I would like to think that the massacre at Sandy Hook
Elementary School was a game changer in our country’s polarized
politics. But I’m not so sure.
Upgrading our nation’s mental
health system and removing the stigma attached to mental instability
will require persistence. Taking on the NRA is always a formidable
fight, and many congressional Democrats who favor basic gun controls
such as reviving the ban on assault-style weapons often retreat to the
shadows when facing the pro-gun crowd.
More importantly, I worry
that the nation has become numb to our endless gun violence. What struck
me about the deadly shootings at a Portland area shopping mall last
week was how calmly the witnesses handled the situation. A man with a
semi-automatic weapon opened fire in a mall filled with 10,000 shoppers
and everyone quietly exited without panicking.

That is scary. But is that America? Is that who we’ve become?

In
the hours after the first reports of the Sandy Hook slaughter, numerous
politicians, including our own Congresswoman Candice Miller, offered
their “hearts and prayers” to the families of the victims. That may
provide some small comfort to the parents of these kids. But the parents
of the victims in our next mass shooting don’t need the heartfelt
prayers of our public officials — they need our elected representatives
to seize the moment.

If they begin to falter, I can give those officials 20 reasons why they need to take action.