There are many commonsense solutions to gun violence: Shorts

Gregory Shorts | Reno Gazette-Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Reno High School walk out day video About 300 students gathered in the Reno High School front lawn to memorialize the deaths of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

Every time there is a mass shooting, people talk about gun violence, but that’s all that ever happens: talk.

The governor has convened a school safety task force, but school shootings are just a small part of the overall gun violence problem that we are having in Nevada. We have an epidemic of accidents, suicides, homicides and mass shootings. Looking at the school safety issue alone will do nothing to address other mass casualties from right here in Nevada such as the shootings at the Carson City IHOP, the church in Fallon, and in Las Vegas. This issue hits us where we live.

In the short term, there are some very easy first steps. We need to ban bump stocks, and we need to institute “red-flag laws” that stop those who might do harm to themselves and others from accessing firearms. These are easy steps to take, and there is wide agreement on them.

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But the larger problem is that as a society we need to show that we actually care about the issue. Each time we have a shooting and then do nothing about it, we continue to send a message that there is nothing wrong with a daily body count of innocent Americans.

Most frustrating is that we can do something. As a country we have tackled tough issues before. Drunk driving, car accidents and cigarette smoking are all examples of intractable problems that we have greatly improved. We solve problems systemically, through a combination of research, legislation and social pressures. Outrageously, we don’t even allow research into one of the most serious violence problems in our society. We need to think about gun violence using science. According to a recent research paper by the RAND Corporation, we haven’t even begun to study the issue. That must change.

In one area, we have done some research and found smart solutions. Florida saw a dramatic drop in child deaths with the passage of child access prevention laws. If we can save the lives of children using commonsense solutions, we should treat all gun violence with this approach. We also need to pass a law in Nevada to mimic the success Florida has seen in saving children’s lives.

One of the biggest issues of gun deaths are those caused by suicides. Nearly 20,000 Americans use a gun to end their lives every year. Suicide interventions are proven successful if the potential victim reaches out for help while they are closest to committing the act. One possible idea to deter this act would be to label guns and ammunition with suicide prevention information, similar to what the surgeon general has placed on cigarette packaging for years. Nevada has a very high suicide rate. Guns make suicide much more lethal. If we want to protect Nevadans we have to research this issue and develop many different interventions, rather than just shrugging it off while the morgues fill up.

Nevada passed a law mandating background checks, but the law, supported by Nevadans across the state, has been neutered by cynical politicians. We have solutions, yet we refuse to even talk about it. There are ways, perhaps many, to reduce gun deaths while still allowing the freedom of gun owners to shoot, hunt and collect firearms. We must get over our cynical pandering and fearmongering about guns to get something done. Now. There are commonsense ways to balance the Second Amendment and public safety.

In the long run we need to create an environment that promotes responsibility by gun owners and social conditions to lower gun deaths in the country. We can create legislation and social programs, paid for by an excise tax on gun and ammunition purchases, that will help Nevadans deal with this issue.

Gregory Shorts is a father of two, a college professor and a U.S. Navy veteran and the democratic candidate for Assembly District 25.