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2 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Beach bacteria thresholds may tighten ... Our View: Who politicized the UCC shootings? Not Obama ... View from 100,000 feet ... Beach bacteria thresholds may tighten ... Our View: Who politicized the UCC shootings? Not Obama ... View from 100,000 feet ... Steve Sebelius: There shouldn't be acceptable losses when it comes to gun violence Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 10:00 AM Updated Oct 6, 2015 at 10:48 AM Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 10:00 AM Updated Oct 6, 2015 at 10:48 AM » Social News Steve Sebelius More Content Now “There’s been another mass shooting in America,” President Barack Obama announced from the White House briefing room on Thursday. He said it with a sad resignation, too, the kind of voice you reserve for a tragedy you know is coming, but continue to hope never arrives. Only we know it will. This time, a disturbed 26-year-old man killed 10 people and wounded seven more at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. He carried five pistols and one rifle, all purchased legally. According to The New York Times, he was alienated, depressed and specifically targeted Christians in his rampage. You all know what happened next, because it’s happened so many times before. The president and those who favor more gun controls spoke out. Gun-rights advocates objected. Voices were raised and messages were pounded out on keyboards. And on and on it goes. “Somehow, this has become routine,” the president said. “We’ve become numb to this.” I’m a gun owner, several times over in fact. I understand the significance of guns in America. This country was literally cleaved from His Majesty King George III’s empire because of gun violence. Guns have sustained our country, expanded our country and protected our country. Their possession is protected by the Constitution. But I also understand that guns are used far too often in our country to shed innocent blood, to instigate horrific rampages, against children, against college students, against people who just went out to enjoy a night at the movies or a prayerful study of the Scriptures. We now train for “active shooter” situations the way we used to prepare for earthquakes or tornadoes or fire drills. And it’s going to keep happening. And as long as we remain paralyzed by the argument we’ve been having over guns for decades, there will be mass shootings, more deaths, more innocent blood, more presidential news conferences. “This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America,” Obama said on Thursday. “We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction.” But what effective action can we really take? Sure, we could (and should) extend criminal background checks to every gun sale in America, even those between private parties. That’s just common sense. Sure, we can do much more to improve our mental health system, especially our ability to spot people with emotional issues that could eventually lead to violence. And yes, we can improve laws to prevent people convicted of domestic violence or those who are subject to orders of protection for domestic violence or stalking from owning or buying firearms. Certainly, we should allow funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research data on firearm deaths in order to develop evidence-based solutions for preventing them. No one on either side of this debate should fear information. It’s impossible to say whether any of these things would have prevented the violence in Oregon. But understand this: So long as things remain as they are now, we are committing ourselves to a course of action that necessarily admits some people will die needlessly and preventably because of gun violence. And while all sane people will recoil at the idea of simply writing off some lives as the price of living in gun-friendly America, all sane people must also acknowledge that accepting the status quo means that’s precisely what we’re doing. Only the willfully ignorant or naive can deny that. “And it can change,” Obama said at the end of his remarks Thursday. Thus far, however, it hasn’t. There’s been another mass shooting in America. Remember those words. You will hear them again. Steve Sebelius is a Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or [email protected]. MailTribune.com Writer Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 10:00 AM Updated Oct 6, 2015 at 10:48 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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