In light of the tragic shooting incident in Las Vegas in which 58 died, and over 500 were wounded I reached out to the National African American Gun Association for a statement. Phillip Smith, president of the NAAGA, responded. While I don't agree with most of his response and much of it is what you would expect from a pro-gun organization, he did make some concessions as far as common sense gun laws that the NRA has not. Read his statement below. George L. Cook III African American Reports.
Re: Las Vegas Shootings - Perspective
Hello George,
I want to say that first and foremost our Organization The National African American Gun Association would like to express our sorrow and deepest sympathy for the victims and families of the Las Vegas Shooting.
This is a tragic loss for everyone in the United States, as Americans we all feel the pain from this......
When a Nation is hit with something like this it is easy and almost a natural reaction to point blame to a person, group, or Laws which might fill the void and provide some sort of rational answer...........we want to vent , scream, and talk about how this happened.........that is easy but it doesn't accomplish anything but becomes a divisive tool for certain organizations
The first target of these conversations is almost always by default "Gun Laws" and how they need to be changed to take away people's rights to own Guns or severely limit them from the General public....typically the discussions range from taking Assault Rifles, enforcing background checks, improving Mental Health infrastructure, and changing the general public's taste for Guns
As in the case of the Las Vegas shooter he was a person who didn't have a previous record and was determined to
complete his mission. Even the Las Vegas Police and Criminal Justice professionals have stated there was nothing Law Enforcement or the public could have done that would have prevented it. He was an evil person acting as a "Lone Wolf" set out to do evil things to the public at a Concert.....
The Bigger question to me isn't what we should do next but what we shouldn't do as knee-jerk reaction
What we shouldn't do is start taking Gun Rights away from Law Abiding citizens like myself and millions of others in the United States. You don't punish the good guys only to give Bad guys even more chances to kill folks because Law Abiding Americans will now be totally defenseless. Criminals and Mad Men are always going to find a way to have guns either Legally or Illegally that is a fact................ A good analogy is if you have a individual drunk driver kill several people on the highway and the first reaction by the Government is to take everybody's car away in society because of the tragic event. That wouldn't seem logical or make sense, nor does it seem rational to start taking guns away because of some evil person (s) action.
You Can't legislate or force Morality upon the masses of the public......when you try do that you then become the next Dictator, Communist, or worse a Hypocrite.
Do I believe in Practical and common sense laws when it comes to Gun Laws ........Yes I do...absolutely !
- No I don't think a person should have a "Bump Stock" because you basically have "Machine Gun" and that is too much
- No you can' have a gun if you are on the terror watch list
- No you can't have a gun if you beat your wife and kids and are considered a serial Domestic Abuser.
- No if you have a violent Felony Record you can't ever have a gun
We live in a Society where most of us are decent hard working Americans...but on occasion we will see someone lacking "Humanity for his fellow Man and wants to lash out and hurt as many individuals as they can....That is something that can't be corrected by any group of laws or local restrictions........
Philip Smith
National President
National African American Gun Association
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