I haven’t forgotten it, though the NRA would like me too. They don’t want any limits on extended clips for semiautomatic guns. They don’t want any legislation to eliminate the massive loopholes to our gun check laws, loopholes that make it easy for criminals, Mexican drug cartels, people with well known histories of mental or emotional disorders, people with histories involving violent behavior such as domestic abuse to obtain Guns.

The NRA wants us to forget that mentally unbalanced people like Nidal Malik Hasan and Jared Lee Loughner, both of whom gave off numerous warning signs that they would commit violent acts if given the opportunity were able to walk into a gun store and purchase weapons of mass murder as easily as you and I shop for groceries. The NRA wants us to forget that an Alaskan militia that bragged about their desire to kill government and law enforcement officials were able obtained a large cache of arms. They want you to forget that the Huttaree militia planned a wave of robberies and killings

The people of Tucson, however have not forgotten, either:

Listen closely. I don’t want to take away anyone’s guns. I don’t want people who enjoy hunting or target shooting from owning guns. I don’t want anyone without a criminal record or a history of violence and mental disorders from obtaining guns. I just want reasonable, responsible gun laws. I want laws that make it harder for crazy people and criminals to obtain weapons at gun shows or through other “private sales.” I want background checks strengthened, not weakened.

I don’t want extended gun clips that now can hold as many as thirty or more bullets. I don’t want the NRA and gun manufacturers telling me that we need more guns, not less, until we have a pistol in every grandmother’s purse or a Glock in every teenager’s bedroom. I don’t want guns in schools or places that sell alcoholic beverages. I especially don’t want a bunch of fanatics and corporations that manufacture guns intimidating our politicians and spreading lies that the government wants to take their guns or that the number of people killed by guns in America is just the price we pay for our freedoms.

I don’t want the people who died at Ft. Hood or Tucson or Virginia Tech to be forgotten. I don’t want the many known suicidally depressed people in our country owning guns, guns that they all too often use on themselves and also on family members.

And you know, I bet a lot of people agree with me, even many gun owners. Even many members of the NRA.

One gun can kill more people far easily that any knives, tasers or other means of “self defense” a person may own. That’s a fact, Jack. How many people would have died at Ft. Hood of in Tucson if Nidal Malik Hasan and Jared Lee Loughner had been unable to obtain semiautomatic weapons and been forced to resort to knives or swords or clubs? How many inner city gangs would be able to obtain guns from straw man purchasers if we actually cracked down on the people who sell guns to them.

After all we passed laws cracking down on drunk drivers and that has saved lives. We made wearing wearing seat belts mandatory for everyone and that has saved lives. We have laws that make it mandatory for people to pass tests demonstrating that they know the laws about driving and can pass a driving test before being allowed to drive on eon our streets and roads and that has saved lives. Those were all reasonable restrictions on the right to own or operate a motor vehicle on our roads and highways. Yet we allow anyone to buy a gun at a gun show in a “private sale” without a background check. Does that make any sense to you, because it doesn’t to me.

We even have checks on our greatest freedom, the right to free speech. We don’t permit people to incite a riot with violent rhetoric or threaten the lives of others or permit them to spread lies and slanders against innocent people and allow them to claim that their speech is protected by the first amendment. We recognize that when it comes to free speech, that right also comes with great responsibilities. Shouldn’t the second amendment also be subject to similar rational restrictions in the interest of public safety and the general welfare of the people?

No law can be a panacea for the the plague of gun violence in our country, but every life is precious, or at least that’s what the Pro-Life people say. So I say to all of you, if stricter laws and stricter enforcement of existing laws make harder for criminals, mentally unstable individuals and individuals with a history of violence (or those who make threats of violence against others) were passed and enforced, even if they only saved one life, wouldn’t that be worth it? If the gun show/private sale loophole to our current system of background checks was eliminated, would that really infringe on the rights of the vast majority of gun owners who are responsible citizens? If extended gun clips for semi-automatic weapons were restricted to a no more than ten bullets would that really violate your rights under the Second Amendment?

Think before you answer “no” to those questions, because as the old public service slogan about using seat belts (or driving drunk) says “the life you save could be your own.”