Home Subscribe Las Vegas Review-Journal
  Jobs Cars Homes Shopping Travel Weddings Golf Best of Las Vegas Photo   Search:

RECENT EDITIONS
Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

Opinion
Mar. 09, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

GEOFF SCHUMACHER: Where's the outrage over gun violence?Commentary

GEOFF SCHUMACHER
MORE COLUMNS

What a bunch of wimps we are.

Teenagers are running around the valley terrorizing each other with guns, and one Palo Verde High School student is dead for no good reason, yet nary a word is uttered about where kids are getting these guns or whether we're doing the right things to prevent kids from getting them.

What's the problem? My take is we're afraid of the National Rifle Association. We're terrified that if we ask questions or make suggestions, we'll be painted as -- God forbid -- liberals. Or wimps. Or communists.

It's a bunch of hooey, but it seems the gun lobby has intimidated us into bed-wetting submission.

Most Popular Stories
  • EDITORIAL: It's now illegal to carry cash?
  • J.C. WATTS: Social conservatives still a political force
  • JOHN BRUMMETT: It's the worst of all worlds for the DemocratsCommentary
  • EDITORIAL: Billing Mrs. Fossett
  • EDITORIAL: Just 'trust our incumbent senators'
  • LETTERS: Tipping 'expert' a total cheapskate
  • ERIN NEFF: They just figured it was a lingerie supplier
  • EDITORIAL: It's getting warmer? Oops
  • LETTERS: To boost revenue, repeal smoking law
  • VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: 'If only we were armed before'



    • Please understand, I'm not really being critical of the NRA's aggressive posture. On the contrary, its leaders have done an incredible job of lobbying for the free flow of guns across the nation. That's what the organization's membership pays them to do, and they do a fine job of it.

    My criticism is reserved for those Las Vegans who don't think it's such a great thing for teenagers to carry handguns in their backpacks, and who think it might be a good idea to explore constructive ways to reduce the scourge of gun violence in our community.

    Some of those very people, by the way, are undoubtedly dues-paying NRA members. You have to believe the overwhelming majority of NRA members don't think teenagers should be using handguns to exact revenge for some perceived slight at school.

    But nobody's talking about guns.

    Yet, to borrow an apt saying, guns are the elephant in the room. In the wake of the Palo Verde homicide and other recent school-related shootings, we've heard school district leaders and police officials plead for better parenting, which is appropriate, but they haven't said a word about guns.

    Apparently it's a taboo subject.

    It's taboo because the NRA has effectively spread the message that any sort of regulation or enforcement of guns is tantamount to taking them away from law-abiding Americans. This is a rhetorical leap of logic and patently untrue. Citizens are permitted to own registered firearms in every state in the union (the one exception being a vigorously challenged handgun ban in Washington, D.C.), and that's not likely to change.

    A range of laws has been passed in many states attempting to address gun violence without taking registered firearms away from responsible citizens. Have these laws been effective? Results vary.

    We all know that dedicated bad guys can figure out how to get guns if they really want them. There seems to be a constantly replenished underground stockpile of unregistered weapons that bad guys have no trouble tapping into.

    But in the bigger picture, statistics make a compelling case that sensible gun regulation and aggressive enforcement measures can deter or prevent mentally ill or violently inclined people from getting guns and using them. About 1.4 million people have been denied access to guns because of background checks required since enactment of the Brady Law in 1994.

    Nevada's gun regulation is notoriously lax. We don't require background checks for sales at gun shows. Gun owners are not held accountable for making guns accessible to kids. Child safety locks are not required on guns. Bulk gun purchases are not limited. The list goes on and on.

    But we like it that way, right? This is the Wild West, after all, home field of the frontier mentality, the place people flee to when they feel the government squeeze elsewhere.

    That seemed to work for us 50 years ago, when Las Vegas was a fairly small place, unaffected by the social and economic traumas of urban life.

    But today we have more than 2 million people living in Clark County, and most of them have settled shoulder to shoulder in the Las Vegas Valley. It's getting crowded. Our racial and ethnic mix is diverse. We have rich and poor and people in between. Most of us have come here from someplace else, and we aren't sure whether we're going to stick around very long.

    Along with its rapid growth, Las Vegas has seen an increase in property crime, drug dealing, gang activity and gun violence. Also: drug and alcohol addiction, problem gambling and child abuse and neglect. This is what happens when you welcome the world to move here, and they take you up on it. Growth comes with strings attached.

    Growth, apparently, also supports a healthy gun trade -- legal and illegal. Once upon a time in Las Vegas, only the sheriff's deputies, mob enforcers and hunters felt the impulse to have guns. Nowadays, it seems, most everybody here wants to have a loaded weapon on hand for one reason or another.

    Again, the problem isn't the guy who properly registers his handgun, undergoes training to handle it and keeps it in a secure place in his home just in case he must defend his family against a menacing intruder. That scenario, I submit, is the essence of what Second Amendment freedoms are all about.

    The problem is the parent who casually leaves a weapon lying around the house where it can be picked up by his thrill-seeking kid. And the problem is the guy who profits from selling unregistered firearms to anyone and everyone on the black market.

    We must be more vigilant in going after guns that aren't registered and aren't safely kept and fall into the hands of people who would use them in illegal and violent ways. We must crack down on the crooks who sell firearms to criminals. We need to hold accountable those adults who essentially put guns in the hands of children.

    This seems so basic and yet the prevailing political rhetoric serves to protect people who provide guns to kids who shoot other kids. Gun violence is a national epidemic, and yet even our presidential candidates won't go near the subject. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama wants to touch the gun issue for fear that it'll cost them votes.

    The whole discussion -- or lack thereof -- is cowardly and tragically messed up.

    Geoff Schumacher (gschumacher@reviewjournal.com) is Stephens Media's director of community publications. He is the author of "Sun, Sin & Suburbia: An Essential History of Modern Las Vegas" and "Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue." His column appears Sunday.

    Links powered by inform.com


    Leave Your Comment 26 Reader Comments
    Terms & Conditions
    The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The reviewjournal.com does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please notify the web editor.

    Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 48 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
    Current Word Count:

    Loralai wrote on May 05, 2008 02:06 PM: Geoff,

    We are thankful that we have the NRA to help us protect our 2nd Amendment right. It is people like you that do not understand what it means to own a firearm for your protection or hobby. Kids and criminals will always find a way to possess what is illegal, no matter what the government says. There has always been a black market, look at prohibition! Even if you lived on an island and threw all weapons into the ocean, someone would find a way to bring one up. It is the nature of the criminal element.

    BTW: When you purchase a weapon at the gun show in LV, you have to fill out your paperwork and have your info checked with METRO for the Brady Bill and pay your $25.oo for each weapon.

    When a child goes bad, do the parents get punished by the law? No, it is the child that has to face the music. So why should weapons be any different. why should honest, law abiding citizens pay the price for the adults who have no common sense?

    Would you rather be like Canada where no weapons are allowed and be at the mercy of the criminals who have all the guns and hope they don't rape your women or kill you and your entire family? We need the NRA to help us fight against being at the mercy of criminals!


    Jaro wrote on April 06, 2008 06:45 AM: Dear Geoff,
    we don't have a problem, YOU have a problem. If you had half a brain, you'd realize that those teenagers don't have guns because gun laws are lax, but because the existing gun laws AREN'T ENFORCED.

    It's ALREADY illegal for anyone younger than 21 in Nevada to buy a handgun. So enforce the existing laws! Only an idiot would want to cure non-enforcement of those laws, with making more laws, which would also restrict the rights of law abiding citizens.

    And if you can't handle the company of free men, just get out of here! I'm sure Cuba or China would love to have you.


    K Taylor wrote on March 11, 2008 09:59 AM: Rather than blaming guns, I think we need to take a hard look at morals, values, and particularly the way we are raising our kids! I wish I had known about the crime, legal system, gun laws, etc. prior to moving to Las Vegas in 2006. In October 2006 my son was killed by another 19 year old. The shooter is still on house arrest. That happened in Summerlin. My son was left to die while 2 car loads of "kids" left the scene and never felt obligated to contact authorities! Now I'm back in Kentucky where I buried my son. I support the Brady Gun Law position and write letters to everyone in support of tougher gun laws. The gun used to kill my son is still registered to who ever owned it years ago. Hopefully, if we ever go to trial, that person will be penalized for selling that gun to a minor! Even if that happens, it will not bring my son back! Check out the Brady Report for Nevada!


    Robert wrote on March 10, 2008 11:23 AM: Let's not talk about personal or parental responsibility in a free society. Let's change the meaning and intent of the constitution to make fools feel safer. We can do this by attacking those who stand up for the original intent and trying to radicalize them.
    Geoff Schumacher and others who want to limit freedom for Americans should read some of the quotes from Ben Franklin such as "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both".


    ralph wrote on March 10, 2008 12:00 AM: I think Eddie has a valid point. We have all seen those video games where the object is to go around with a big gun and kill every person and thing in sight. Blood gushes out and heads get blown off. It's not that much of a stretch to blur the line between fantasy and reality especially in a few weak minded individuals of that age group. I would propose that instead of banning/controlling guns... let's consider banning all video games that depict anything getting killed.


    Chris wrote on March 09, 2008 11:25 PM: Personal responsibility seems to be a taboo subject as well, Geoff...


    eddie basner wrote on March 09, 2008 09:52 PM: To Geoff Schumaker, i read your article on gun violence. I would like to see what i am writing about this problem be published in the paper. Lets go back to the fifties and sixties, in thoes years their was hardley any TV chanels, no vidio games, no internet, but their was plenty of guns to go around just as their is today but nowhere near the gun violence as seen today. Their is a whole generation of lost childern and young adults who grew up exposed to violence on TV, violent vidio games and violent games on the net, so violence is to be expected. Several years ago the powers to be in Washington passed a law where a parent can no spank their child and in school they can not give the strap for bad beheaver, so now we have ageneration of teenagers and adult killers. To slow down the violence a law should be pased when a teenager is apprended with a gun or shots someone the parent should also go to jail. I am sure this will make the child think twice before they comit a crime and the parent will pay more attention to their childern and what they are doing. Aparently you never attended a gun show, so this weekend go to the Cashman field gun show and see for yourself that guns sold their are registered and a backround check is made right at the show. I would like to see this comment printed in every newspaper across the nation. Sincerly Eddie


    Lee wrote on March 09, 2008 06:59 PM: GEOFF SCHUMACHER joins Erin Neff as another idiot I won't ever again waste my time reading.


    ogspot wrote on March 09, 2008 01:53 PM: I own no guns. However, the Geoff's of the world are just like the morons who tried to outlaw booze. It doesn't work. I don't see the laws against drugs, prostitution, or anything else actually working either. If there was any chance that outlawing gus would put an end to this problem, I would support it. But it won't and thinking otherwise is ignoring history and reality.


    ralph wrote on March 09, 2008 01:42 PM: Edwin, based on your logic let's ban cars.. they create more deaths than anything. If you want real facts and not just baloney, listen to this one. It's verifiable if you choose to look it up. ----there is far more risk of a death in any household that has a swimming pool than one that has a firearm in the premises--- I don't hear anyone yakking for the outlawing of swimming pools. Regardless, why can't you understand that the bad guys who want to commit crimes will have guns no matter what? Just like drug addicts get drugs no matter what.


    Read All Comments