FutureWorld: Gun control

I had some merry little screed planned for today, but something more important has come along.

Yesterday’s Connecticut tragedy underlines the need for gun control. Not “reasonable” gun control, but gun control: real waiting periods, real background checks, real licensing. It needs to be at least as hard to obtain a gun as it already is to get a driver’s license. Preferably much harder, since cars are at least useful.

This is a link to a petition on the White House’s “We the People” website. Here’s the wording of the petition:

Immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress.

The goal of this petition is to force the Obama Administration to produce legislation that limits access to guns. While a national dialogue is critical, laws are the only means in which we can reduce the number of people murdered in gun related deaths.

Powerful lobbying groups allow the ownership of guns to reach beyond the Constitution's intended purpose of the right to bear arms. Therefore, Congress must act on what is stated law, and face the reality that access to firearms reaches beyond what the Second Amendment intends to achieve.

The signatures on this petition represent a collective demand for a bipartisan discussion resulting in a set of laws that regulates how a citizen obtains a gun.

Please read. Then, please go to the website and sign.