Gun Control And Politics
How does the topic of gun control affect a Presidential candidate?
I am hopeful candidates will be willing to talk about what they can do, what we can do, as a country to lower the levels of gun violence in this country. It is something that the first Democratic candidates debate at Virginia Tech. It was one of the things the candidates were asked about. And I think it is something that candidates will be asked about as the campaigns develop. Most of the candidates have actually been pretty good on this issue in the past, and I hope they will realize that talking about gun violence and what can be done to end gun violence, is something that is going to pick up votes for them. It is something that should be talked about. It is something that is important to the average American citizen. In the past, a lot of politicians have stayed away from the issue. They have been scared of the issue. But I think post Virginia Tech, the American people want to hear answers on what we can do to make our community safer. The American people realize how weak our Gun laws are and I think they are going to be pushing candidates to talk about it.
How do lobbyists affect gun laws?
The lobbyist are people in Washington, and people in the states that try to infuence the decisions that legislators, elected officials make. We lobby congress from the Brady campaign, and we lobby in other states to try to get common sense gun laws. There are those on the other side that fight that. And it's something that in my mind, lobbyists can play an important role in getting information to elected officials. But the crucial lobbyists need to be the american people. The american people need to step up. I was an elected official for 12 years as Mayor of Fort Wayne, and I'd have people lobbying me all the time. The thing that makes the biggest difference is when you're hearing from the real grassroots when you go door to door, when you're hearing from the average citizen as to what needs to be done. I think in the issue of gun legislation, the lobbyist on the other side are pretty powerful, so I'm hopeful that the american people will step up and ask our elected officials, what are you going to do about gun violence in this country?
Why are gun laws different in each state?
We need to remember that there are very few federal laws on guns. Basically, a list of prohibited purchasers that go back to 1968, a ban on machine guns that goes back to 1934 and the Brady Background Check System that says that we check the database. Those are really the only federal laws on guns that are out there. Different states have other laws on their own that might ban semi-assault weapons in one state, that might restrict the number of guns that you can buy per month in another state, that might have different ages for guns or permitting requirements for guns. So state by state there are different things that have been done and can be done. The problem with state by state responses is that when California closes the gun show loophole and requires background checks at gun shows, then often there are people that want to get around that. Because they're prohibited purchasers, they'll just go to Nevada and buy from the gun show in Nevada. That's what happens when one state does one thing. Since we have porous borders, people aren't stopping people at the borders. They'll go to the states with weak gun laws, buy the guns there and then bring them back to the state they came from.
