Considering there have been more than 500 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, President Biden's announcement Friday that the White House has now created the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention is welcome news.
(According to the Gun Violence Archive, a mass shooting is defined as four or more people killed or wounded in a single incident.)
With the announcement that the president wants the staff of the new office to "dig deep" and find additional actions he can take, here's something my Laguna friends and I urge the staff to discuss with Mr. Biden immediately: Convene a Camp David gun summit with leaders of the National Rifle Association, 2nd Amendment proponents, law enforcement officials and families of victims in attendance.
To date, more than 50 Laguna residents and 1,000 others coast to coast agree with this idea.
Generally speaking, whenever a mass shooting happens, representatives from the NRA and 2nd Amendment typically talk "past" law enforcement and grieving families instead of "with" them. As a result, ways of preventing future gun violence basically are short-circuited while thousands of innocents continue being slaughtered.
In our collective opinion, by breaking bread together at Camp David, participants in the summit will have the time and space to come up with the kinds of new gun safety measures the president is looking for. Ditto that thought for the nation as well.
If you agree, then click on this link and add your name to the cause. https://chng.it/GPbQNJxzzh
-DF