America is still grieving for the children and adults who lost their lives last Friday in Newtown, Connecticut. That horrific event ripped deep into our national soul.
The level of violence
is higher in the United States than almost anywhere else in the
developed world. Why? And more importantly, what can be done about it? A
lot can get done -- if our leaders in Olympia can muster the courage to
strengthen safety laws for the people of Washington State.
As President Obama said at the vigil Sunday night in
Newtown, “We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And
to end them, we must change.”
The Connecticut shootings should enable our Governor, our
Governor-elect and leaders in the Washington Legislature to focus on
solutions and bring us together to do something meaningful to end this
nonsense.
Economist Richard Florida has looked for causation between
gun violence and various social and economic conditions. While Professor
Florida acknowledges that it is difficult to establish direct
causation, he does suggest that there are obvious associations that
shouldn’t be ignored.
Professor Florida’s data analysis
shows that states with just three gun safety regulations—an assault
weapons ban, trigger locks and safe storage requirements—have lower
levels of gun deaths on a per capita basis than states without these
protections. MORE...
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