Letter: Keeping guns from all people is not the solution

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To the editor,

The gun control situation in Connecticut that has developed since Sandy Hook has taken a completely wrong course. And the subject will come up again in the election this November.
We’ve been told that our new Connecticut laws, when looked at by other states, are considered a dramatic political overreaction. When we look at all the publicized horror stories involving guns and even bombs, the real problem is that we don’t control, or even identify the people, with “issues,” who may cause problems. The solution is not to keep guns unavailable to all the people, but to keep people with problems away from the guns by watching them or confining them if violence seems imminent.

We should take note that our state has seen fit to greatly downsize confinements recently and emphasizes trying to fit patients back into society. This was done for financial reasons and not for any moral obligation. Many will say that a review of this situation is not possible at this time because of the economy. I agree, but I suspect that much more effort is being addressed to registering gun owners than is being addressed to documenting and following folks who could pose a potential problem.

I believe doctors are required to watch for real problems, but I don’t know any details. Are there any statewide registers kept on other problem situations? How about a list of people involved in physical assaults including student confrontations with teachers or those involved in repeated domestic assaults or those involved in workplace violence?

At the very least these folks should be watched to assure they do not have guns available in their homes or within their social groups. I’m also sure that any such registry would be sited as an invasion of privacy but, as with national security, first things must come first. Note that I imply “statewide” because people do move.

In the scenario above we should address problems up front instead of waiting until the damage has been done and only then identify the problem as we did in Sandy Hook.

Ray Kunz

Beacon Falls