EDITORIAL: Sensible gun reforms make sense

Published 5:00 am Saturday, July 2, 2022

Most Americans support sensible gun reform, and so do we. 

It is possible to protect Second Amendment rights and still make it more difficult for violent people to commit mass shootings. 

The federal bipartisan bill approved by Congress includes some enhanced background checks for anyone younger than 21 wanting to buy a gun, shores up the so-called “boyfriend” loophole restricting guns from unmarried people guilty of domestic violence and provides money for mental health and school safety.

These measures are sensible. 

What lawmakers have not done is address easy access to rapid fire weapons with high magazine capacity.

To be clear, there have been no serious efforts by even the most progressive lawmakers to restrict anyone’s right to have a weapon in the home to protect families or take away anyone’s hunting rifles and shotguns. 

Any hysteria about the authorities entering homes of law-abiding gun owners and taking away all of their firearms is just that — hysteria. 

While we may think Congress has not gone far enough, they have done something and that says a lot. 

It seems rather clear that in both the House and Senate lawmakers heard their constituents and know Americans — Republicans and Democrats — want to keep children in schools safe.

The bipartisan bill includes steps in the right direction. 

Georgia lawmakers, however, have been moving in the opposite direction and should reconsider the so-called “constitutional carry” law passed this year. 

The law, passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, removed the few guardrails that remained in Georgia gun laws. 

Granted, state lawmakers acted prior to the horrific mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas. 

That shooting, in many ways, changed the national conversation and prompted federal lawmakers to do something they had not done in more than a quarter of a century — pass some gun ownership reforms. 

Instead of listening to the NRA and the gun lobby, Georgia lawmakers should listen to mothers and fathers worried about the safety of their children in schools and revisit a measure that effectively made it possible for anyone to carry almost any kind of gun anywhere in Georgia. 

It just doesn’t make sense in today’s world.