Two articles caught my attention earlier today. The first is the Justice Department's report on last year's mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. If you don't remember, that is where 19 children and 2 adults were slaughtered during school hours. The second is the creation of a national mass shooter prevention hotline. It has just been launched by safety advocates in Florida.
I think it's safe to say that if Congress had passed new gun laws after the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, many lives could have been saved since the horrific killings at Sandy Hook. Sadly, there still are no new federal laws regarding the sale or purchase of AR-15 assault-style weapons. To make matters worse, now there are JR-15 weapons for sale. They have been created for youngsters as young as 10. If you ask me, this is madness.
Given the stalemate that exists in Washington, I'm not surprised the White House has created a new gun safety strategy. Namely, to build coalitions of governors and legislators who will pass new gun laws state by state. I like that idea, but want more. Specifically, I want First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to take a page out of Rosalynn Carter's playbook. After all, it was the former First Lady who persuaded her husband to convene a peace summit at Camp David between Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel. Believe it or not, the agreement those two old warriors reached in 1978 still exists today.
So how would a Camp David gun summit work today? I'm not smart enough to know what the agenda would look like, but I do know this: Those in attendance must include representatives from the National Rifle Association, 2nd Amendment proponents, law enforcement officials and families of victims. If the participants are willing to leave their egos at the door, then I am positive they will come up with new, commonsense gun safety laws Congress can pass.
Had a national mass shooter hotline existed a year ago, I'm guessing the killings in Uvalde could have been prevented. If you agree, then please tell your friends about the new hotline. The number is 605-NO-SHOOT or 605-667-4668.
With First Lady Jill Biden's support for a Camp David gun summit, my hope is we can put an end to America's killing fields sooner rather than later.
-DF