When will we examine our heavily armed culture?

[flamin lib]

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20150518-john-traphagan-when-will-we-examine-our-heavily-armed-culture.ece

Amazingly, Americans seem to see these regular (gun violence) incidents as normal. It’s a powerful and sad testament to how anesthetized we have become to this ongoing violence. And despite all of this violence and loss of life, many in Texas and elsewhere want to increase gun ownership and allow people to openly carry firearms.

Since 9/11, Americans have been deeply concerned about threats to national security. Our tendency has been to define national security only in terms of external threats. A much better way is to see national security is in terms of the well-being of our population. If we think of it this way, the evidence is clear — a heavily armed population in the U.S. is not secure because our culture does not seem to lend itself well to allowing the proliferation of guns.

There are many law-abiding American gun owners who do not go out and kill people and who keep their guns stored safely. But as a whole, Americans do not seem to be able to handle gun ownership in a way that permits maintenance of a civil society. The reality is that the significant numbers of bad apples have spoiled it for those law-abiding gun owners, and it’s time that gun rights organizations such as the National Rifle Association recognize this and begin working with those who want realistic gun control laws, in part as a way of building trust with those who do not own guns.
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Americans should ask themselves whether they want to live in a society that is secure because everyone is ready to shoot one another or one that is secure because people have peace of mind and experience freedom from violence and the freedom to pursue their lives in safety and happiness rather than fear.

On 9/11 three thousand people were killed by terrorists. Our reaction was to start two wars, create the DHS, pass the Patriot act and generally surrender all our rights. Thirty-five thousand people a year die from firearms and we immediately . . . do nothing.

Where is the balance?