I finally got around to my December issue of The Atlantic, and reluctantly read through the piece by Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Case for More Guns (And More Gun Control).  I respect Goldberg’s ability to present an argument in writing, and I admit to seeing the logic scattered through his presentation; but formal logic is the abstract study of logic or reasoning from a mathematical, computational and algebraic standpoint, and in the matter of “what to do about guns in America” I am not looking for a skillful semantic presentation to determine the truth or falseness of my gun owner friend’s statements that “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” and “But cars kill a lot of people and no one wants to ban them!”  If I were in a formal debate, I’d point out the illogic of anthropomorphizing guns and the unreasonableness of comparing people’s use and ownership of cars with their ownership of guns; but I’m not in a formal debate and prefer to appeal to common sense whether or not my views are reinforced by syllogistic reasoning.  

Kerry Kennedy’s point of view, expressed after the Newtown shootings, makes good sense to me.  Hers is a voice of reason informed by personal experience.

“I was four years old when we lost my uncle President John F. Kennedy to a man with a gun. I was eight years old when we lost my father Robert Kennedy the same way. I can't begin to know what these days have been like for the families of Newtown. But I know that for loved ones left behind, some wounds may be healed by time, but there are others for which there is no cure but to take action.

Of the twelve deadliest shootings in American history, half of them have occurred in just the last five years. Make these the last American children to die by an assault weapon. We must permanently reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban and the restrictions on high capacity magazines.

As my father said after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., victim of yet another act of gun violence: "Whenever a person's life is taken by another unnecessarily -- whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence -- whenever we tear at the fabric of life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole world is degraded."

Enough said for me to continue to press for gun control laws that at the very least would prohibit the purchase and ownership of assault firearms. Please join me by contacting representatives in the House and Senate to urge their support in the effort by the President and Vice-President to find reasonable, workable legislative solutions to irresponsible gun ownership in America.