New York fires first on new gun laws

After the recent horrific shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, guns and gun control have been on the tip of the national tongue. Obama called for VP Joe Biden to deliver suggestions for national gun control laws, Texas and Wyoming introduced state legislation to ignore whatever Washington comes up with, and the topic has been the subject of rapid fire debate on social media and talk shows. When President Obama tasked VP Joe Biden to come up with suggestions for new national laws, asking him to have them ready in a month sounded like fast turnaround.

The state of New York, however, needed less than a month to come up with a wider ban on assault weapons and get it through the approval process and onto Governor Andrew Cuomo's desk for signature. And yesterday afternoon that's just what he did. The Governor is quoted as saying:

"I am proud to be part of this government, not just because New York has the first bill, but because New York has the best bill. I’m proud to be a New Yorker because New York is doing something — because we are fighting back.”

It says something about how deeply violence is embedded in our culture that he framed the bill as "fighting back" rather than "taking care" or "doing the right thing."

Notably, the state assembly and Senate both approved the bills by wide margins, even though this kind of legislation had faced opposition in the past. As other states and the federal government take up similar bills and debates, I hope to see swift and decisive action like this, rather than long, drawn-out debates. Does gun control reduce violence? There is evidence for yes and for no. There is a party in power based on democratic elections, and this seems like the kind of national crisis that we elected that party to respond to.

It's a national tipping point where the issue cannot be ignored. And whether gun control can or will actually do anything to stop another tragedy like Newtown, people need to take action to feel like we are doing something about it. Getting bogged down in a debate is not the kind of action we need to take.

Image courtesy of Patja via flickr