A: YES YES A MILLION TIMES YES.
People are dying at alarming rates, and we're still having the same debate we've been having for over 100 years now. Our current laws are unambiguously failing and yet NRA lobbyists have managed to make it illegal for government scientists to study gun-related violence. Time and time again, data continues to disprove any connection between mental illness and violent crimes — and in fact, gun violence is a major contributor to the suicide epidemic, the tenth highest cause of death in the United States.
(admittedly, there are major problems with the way we address and deal with mental health, but it is separate from issues of gun control)So let's stop deflecting from the fact that our country engenders a culture of gun violence. Let's break the NRA's stronghold on politics and find a way to enact firearm regulations that actually work.
And let's do it NOW.
Write to your lawmakers — and refuse to re-elect anyone who refuses to act in the best interests of the country.
And if you're somehow still not convinced? Here's what happened when I got my gun license, and how that process compared to my actual prescription medicine.