Lowering the Toll of Violence

This is an important report on a study:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/06/12/gun-killings-fell-by-40-percent-after-connecticut-passed-this-law/

In the early ’90s, gang shootings gripped Connecticut. Bystanders, including a 7-year-old girl, were getting gunned down in drive-bys. “The state is becoming a shooting gallery, and the public wants action,” an editorial in the Hartford Courant said at the time.

So in the summer of 1994, lawmakers hustled through a gun control bill in a special session. They hoped to curb shootings by requiring people to get a purchasing license before buying a handgun. The state would issue these permits to people who passed a background check and a gun safety training course.

At the time, private citizens could freely buy and sell guns secondhand, even to those with criminal records. Connecticut’s law sought to regulate that market. Even private handgun sales would have to be reported to the state, and buyers would need to have a permit. [...]

In a study released Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health, they estimate that the law reduced gun homicides by 40 percent between 1996 and 2005. That’s 296 lives saved in 10 years.

And that is how it should be.  It is so sad that we can trace guns that kill back to places with lax laws and the inability to keep those guns out of criminals hands.

But this is just a start.  We need to be looking at violence in all of its manifestations...

Discussing Violence in Church by Sharon Pearson has some very valuable resources for our conversations, advocacy and action.

http://rowsofsharon.com/2015/06/15/discussing-violence-in-church/