Drastic new steps in gun control necessary

None of the shocking news stories reproduced immediately below would have occurred as they did had the shooters involved not had access to unlimited firepower with which to murder their fellow humans in an efficient and wanton manner.

 Surely before God, the weekend of April 3-5, 2009, has produced enough ghastly news of gun-related violence in the United States to prompt the most cowardly Republican politicians from the most backward corners of the nation to finally agree to more stringent gun control.

 Assault rifle and handgun confiscation should be the first goals of a new gun law. No civilian should own a military assault rifle. And the man or woman with a license to own a .357 Magnum pistol should be a rare exception in the near future.

Any politician unwilling to support sweeping gun legislation after the present mayhem should be swept from office as soon as possible. We don't need such cowards with their fingers to the wind in our government. We need men and women in office who will do that which is right—not that which is politically expedient nor that which lobbyists from the National Rifle Association demand.

And to those who will trot out the tired old bromides about "guns not killing",  "if guns are criminalized, only criminals will have guns", etc., etc., etc., I say to you to stand aside as right-thinking Americans forge a solution to the challenge of unstable fools with more guns and rounds of ammunition than brains. We have had enough. We are not intimidated by you gun nuts or by the NRA.

Americans, we as a people possess enough collective intelligence to solve this problem of millions of handguns and assault rifles in the hands of people who should not have them. Let's roll up our sleeves and commit to solving the grave problem at hand.