Another school shooting and more “thoughts and prayers.” The lack of legislative action continues to be pathetic and cowardly.
With the majority of Republican and some Democratic legislators owned by the NRA (No Responsible Accountability), we are becoming numb to these horrific acts that most of us never had to think about during our grade school years.
The majority of Americans — and Tribune Public Forum contributions from retired military and law enforcement officers — agree that universal background checks and the banning of bump stocks and, yes, semi-automatic and automatic weapons are common-sense steps to reduce the number and the severity of these assaults. But our legislators remain impotent.
In addition to greater public and family awareness of individuals who exhibit troubling behavior (verbal and online threats, hate rhetoric), there is a non-political preventative action that could be the first alert that a shooting or bombing may happen.
Instead of the billions for President Trump’s “great big beautiful wall,” we should install floor, wall or subway-type turnstile weapons detectors in public entrances to casinos, hotels, banks, schools, churches and other “soft target” areas where people may assemble. There could be a private sector and government tax incentive program to stimulate retrofits.
Is this technology available? Yes. Patriot One in Canada has successfully pilot tested these applications and continues to refine its capability. Other manufacturers are also building their own versions. With competition, costs will come down and give us greater security inside these structures.
It always comes down to, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
It’s time to vote for whoever represents our best interests, regardless of party affiliation.
We can take our country back and have the legislators start working for us and not just the highest contributing lobbies and special interest groups.
Peter R. Finn, Salt Lake City
from The Salt Lake Tribune http://bit.ly/2Q1w2eO
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