Which is why I strongly support universal background checks, improvements to our NICS background check system and increased efforts to stop the straw purchase and smuggling of firearms into the streets of the inner cities of our nation.
I also support modifying our failed War on Drugs which we lost decades ago by the legalization of some fairly benign drugs such as marijuana. This would reduce much of the profit motive that drives the drug cartels and consequently help to curb drug gangs fighting over turf that is plaguing cities like Chicago and Detroit.
I realize that our educational system is failing to provide students with the education to obtain good paying jobs. Of course we have lost the manufacturing base that once provided a good living for many people with only a high school education in our nation. I can see how tempting it is for a person with little education to choose a life as a drug dealer rather than one as a hamburger flipper.
Social problems are complicated but I feel we could make a lot of positive headway in reducing the level of gun violence by passing truly reasonable gun laws. I had great hope that some of the ideas I support would become law after the tragic shooting in Newtown but unfortunately the gun control advocates and the media sensed an opportunity to pass another assault weapons ban at a national level. This overreach allowed the NRA to garner enough support to stop any changes to our gun laws in Congress. It also caused the sale of firearms and ammunition to absolutely skyrocket. Many of the people who decided to buy their first firearm have any real reason to own a one and lack the necessary training to safely handle it. While I am a gun owner, I often do my best to discourage people who ask me about buying a firearm for the first time from doing so unless they they have good reason and are willing to get the necessary training to know how to safely handle their new weapon and store it properly. I also try my best to convince any new gun owner to spend the time on the range to become proficient with his new weapon. This is far more complicated and difficult than it appears to be in the movies or on TV.
You asked about my neighborhood. I live in a small town in north Florida. Almost everybody I know has at least one firearm in their home. Deer and feral hogs are commonly hunted in this area and most people have grown up with firearms and know how to safely handle them. We have had no home invasions that I know of since I moved here seven years ago but it is wise not to leave anything of any value in your yard as there is an excellent chance it will disappear. There is a thriving drug trade in this area and there have been gang related shootings.
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