Saturday Soapbox: We don’t need to be held hostage by gun owners

I read with sadness the commentary by Selah High School student Indiana Hilmes published in the “Unleashed” section of Feb. 19.

She expressed that she no longer feels safe going out shopping, or pumping gasoline, or just walking across a parking lot.

Her fear: violence perpetrated on innocent people, particularly gun violence. She makes the profound statement that those “good people … who are trying to change things … are swimming upstream.”

How many of our young people would admit to the same fears as she?

There is of course no good reason why the United States of America has 120 guns per 100 population and has by far the most gun deaths per year of any of the civilized non-third world country. One cannot deny that our citizens are held hostage by a minority of the population who are the gun-owning proponents of total gun freedom, and who are championed by the well-funded National Rifle Association.

An interesting question is: What would be the outcome if a general poll was taken of all voting adults to put in effect gun laws similar to those of Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia? I believe that the majority would vote in favor of such laws, especially women.

Of course, the likelihood of such a poll occurring, followed by the implementing of laws limiting handguns, military-style assault rifles and high-capacity ammo clips is close to zero, as it is a fact that our politicians are afraid of the powerful gun lobby and the political funding provided by the gun industry.

Gun advocates cling to the Second Amendment’s “right to bear arms,” but have we considered this: What about the fundamental right affirmed in the U.S. Constitution “to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?” That right apparently does not apply to the approximately 45,000 people who die from gun violence (murder, suicide and accidents) each year in the U.S., and the over 100,000 who survive gun violence.

Gun advocates answer with trite saying such as “if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns,” and “more people die from car accidents than gun violence each year — should we outlaw automobiles?” These do not hold water.

In countries with strict gun laws, no one has guns beyond the need to do so (police, bank guards, military, etc.), and the criminals have a hard time getting guns and committing crimes with them. The statistics do not lie — the U.S. has five times the gun deaths per 100,000 population than Canada, and our numbers far outpace the U.K., Japan, Australia, Norway or New Zealand.

Here is another thought: How many potential tourists and foreign visitors will decide not to visit the United States out of fear of our gun society and our well-publicized mass shootings? Are we experiencing this trend already?

My modest proposal (this likely will never happen, but at least it shows that solutions are possible):

Make illegal most private ownership of handguns, assault rifles and high-capacity ammo clips. Require strict licensing including the sort of delays and background checks that the other countries mentioned above have in place. Compensate those who turn in their weapons with a reasonable reimbursement payment. This could partially be covered by the savings that would occur in hospital and medical care currently caused by gun violence.

Establish “gun courts,” where gun law violators would be swiftly prosecuted, convicted and sentenced. Turn a few abandoned military bases into “gun prisons,” where the violators of gun laws would be incarcerated for enough years to be a deterrent to violating the law.

Unfortunately, we will continue to see an increase each year of gun violence — murders, suicides, accidents and mass shootings at schools. We wring our hands, condemn the perpetrators, but do nothing to correct the obvious lack of restrictions on gun ownership.

You should note that I am not a left-leaning Democrat, but a lifelong Republican voter who is probably politically to the right of center. Why the above stated views? I am first and foremost a rational thinker who leaves emotion out of the context of gun control.

John Stuart Lawrence is a retired Yakima business owner and lifelong conservative Republican who has concerns about the future for his three young grandchildren.