Gun Laws and Sales Take Unique Twists.

     If there is any logic to American gun laws, past and present, I’d love to hear it.

     The irony and flexibility between different states and communities provide both a progressive and paranoid picture. The United States Senate panel on gun control is considering specific steps forward this week.

     State officials may be battling the federal government soon because the conflicts and confusion provide for an enormous undertaking for a comprehensive plan. It’s impossible.

     But the one thing that isn’t complicated is the enhancement of state revenues through gun sales. State officials are lining up to find a “sin tax” revenue source, and they may have found the butter for their bread. Maryland officials want a 50 percent ammunition tax and Massachusetts wants to impose a 25 percent sales tax on all gun purchases. Nevada officials are considering a $25 tax per gun sale, which would include all gun shows in Las Vegas.

     And the most persistent legislation is coming out of California. House of Representatives member Linda Sanchez, D-California, wants a 10 percent tax on all concealable weapons purchased in the United States to go toward a federal buyback program to get guns off the streets. Meanwhile, the state legislature in California is considering a 5 percent tax on every bullet sold in the state towards a mental health screening program for children.

      In Congress, the Senate legislature would target a new ban on semi-automatic weapons modeled after military assault rifles. It would consider imposing the 1996 ban on all assault weapons that expired a decade later.

     But would it make a real difference in America’s fight against violence?

     Experts say there are already somewhere between 280 million and 320 million guns in the country today. Director of gun policy and research for the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Jon Vernick says research doesn’t find any evidence gun buyback programs reduce crime.

     The powerful National Rifle Association would have you believe we need more guns in America to fight criminals. The NRA released figures recently showing more than 500,000 new members have signed up since the 26 educators and children were shot to death at an elementary school massacre by a lone gunman last December in Newtown, Connecticut.

     The General Social Survey at the University of Chicago says gun ownership in households has actually declined steadily over the past four decades. The survey also says household gun ownership rates have declined from 50 percent in the 1970s to about 35 percent since the year 2000. The national survey is the only one of its kind and is funded by the National Science Foundation.

     But those figures differ with FBI statistics as well as Gallup Research Surveys which show nearly half the households in America have a firearm.

     The Second Amendment of the Constitution allows for the right of the people to keep and bear arms, and that right shall not be infringed.

     To what logic that freedom is allowed is a good question.

     Two small communities in Georgia and Maine have taken a unique but perhaps worrisome approach to the growing gun violence dilemma.

     The City Council of Nelson, Ga., has written a Family Protection Ordinance to be considered in April.

      The two-paragraph proposal reads, "In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further, in order to provide for and protect the safety, security, and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore."

     As explained by city officials, the rule would mirror one passed in nearby Kennesaw back in 1982. It would mandate gun ownership in every household. It is also supported by the police chief of Nelson, a city of just 1,300 residents, who has offered free gun safety classes and gun checks, if the law passes.

     “It’s a great idea,’’ said Police Chief Heath Mitchell. “Obviously, if you cannot afford it, don’t believe in it, or are a convicted felon or are handicapped, you are exempt from the mandate.”

     Nelson residents believe it is a great deterrent from crime. They believe criminals will bypass their small town just north of Atlanta, if the bad guys “don’t know what’s on the other side of the front door of the house.”

     Despite the national and international media attention the city of Nelson has received with the proposal, it turns out it isn’t that unique. Similar laws have been passed in Utah, Minnesota, and Idaho since 2000, and a small town in Maine is also currently considering such a proposal. Monday the town of Byron, Maine unanimously rejected a proposal to require every household to own a firearm, but city officials in the 140-resident town plan to bring the issue up again next month.

     Colorado state officials are barking for stricter gun laws. That state has seen two of the worst mass murders in recent American history. Last July, a lone gunman with an assault rifle stormed into a theatre and killed 12 people and injured 58 others in Aurora.

     In 1999, two students shot and killed 13 and wounded 23 others during the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton.

     Yet, just south of Colorado in Arizona, state officials passed a 2009 law that allows residents to enter bars with loaded firearms. Tucson officials recently took in 200 guns in a citywide buyback program with the idea of destroying those guns. State officials are discussing a law that would mandate any guns received in such buyback programs be resold.

     As if we don’t have enough guns without the sale one more in America. The Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics show there are 310 million guns in America which include 114 million handguns, 110 rifles, and 86 million shotguns. After nearly 17 million background checks since 1998, the FBI has denied about 900,000 individual gun sales. In the past year, the FBI denied 7,879 sales due to mental health issues.

     But firearm sales are a $5 billion annual industry in America, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation. And that insures America continues its prominence as the most gun violent country per capita in the world.

Sequestration May Be a Castration of Society.

     Wake up this weekend and consider your federal government has yet to act on gun control laws, despite months of debate. But, by not acting Friday on the so-called sequester, Congress may have put hundreds of thousands of children in jeopardy.

     The American public has not put enough pressure on politicians to solve problems in Washington, DC.

     We are to blame for the stalemate that led us down this path. Very soon, we’ll feel the pain of the budget cuts in federal services because of our lack of involvement. We have allowed this dilemma to happen.

      We haven’t gotten involved enough to realize how fast the federal government ship is sinking in the wrong direction. We are hiding in the closet, waiting for Christmas presents that will not arrive. We are suffering a slow death by gridlock. There is very little problem-solving because there is almost no debate for answers in the White House.

     The officials in power talked for just 45 minutes Friday before giving up and simply allowing this “sequestration” to go into effect. The average American worked an eight-hour shift the same day. Millions have been unemployed for at least a year and are still searching for a job.

     The most disturbing news since last December’s Newtown massacre is a half a million Americans have joined the National Rifle Association. The most disturbing news Friday was the sequestration in America that may deny more than 700,000 low-income children the right to the early childhood Head Start program.

     More guns in this country is clearly not the answer to our violence epidemic. Giving children a fair chance of succeeding is a step in the right direction.

     Arming teachers in our schools isn’t a solution, but arming pre-school youngsters with toothbrushes is.

     Allowing guns in houses of worship as recently approved in the state of Arkansas doesn’t deter gun violence, but identifying mental health resources and those who need it just might save lives in our communities.

     So what is really happening in this country?

      A deal was cooked up by both the Democrats and Republicans in 2011 that included a plan for about 85 billion in federal budget cuts March 1^st. They signed it in writing believing the date would never come and everything would be made happy well before Friday. We waited and waited. They barked and pointed fingers. We re-elected politicians and expected different results.

     Here are some facts that should spoil your milk.

     Almost 1,000 human beings have been murdered in Chicago since that 2011 deal was struck. The city of Detroit is in such financial disarray, the state has recently taken over the 14 billion debt tab, due to mismanagement and corruption. According to the FBI, another major city, Miami, is leading the nation in identity theft, mostly by gangs made up of 20-something adults who hack into American lifestyles with sophisticated technology, force, and violence.

     So the federal government’s answer is to do nothing. By not acting, the 2011 deal goes into effect. It is an irresponsible debt reduction plan called a sequestration, which cuts federal programs to save budget issues, such as the United States’ $16 trillion debt.

     The result will be 13 percent cuts in military programs and a broad 9 percent federal programs cut across America. Those cuts are prompted by the inability of Congress to come up with ideas. And that is what we elect politicians for.

     President Barack Obama says, “We will get through this. This is not going to be the apocalypse, as some people have said. It’s just dumb, and it’s going to hurt.”

     Republican House of Representatives speaker John Boehner added, “There are smarter ways to cut spending.”

     I’ll offer a hint you probably figured out by now. These two guys won’t be hurt by the cuts. But everyday Americans who are concerned with national security, domestic programs, and core government functions will feel the lack in services.

     And that brings us back to the Head Start Program for children. These are the most vulnerable humans in our nation. Children who may not find their way to learning how to brush their teeth, or solving eyesight or hearing problems because of the cuts to this vital federal program. The program identifies special needs for youngsters so that they have a fair chance to learn before it is too late. A chance to succeed instead of turning to violence.