By Glynn Wilson –

Alabama’s new United States Senator Doug Jones chose the raging issue of gun violence Wednesday as the central topic for his first speech on the Senate floor since his election in December.

And while he will be criticized from the right and the left for some of what he said, mainstream working people everywhere interested in making government and democracy work would do well to listen to the rare bipartisan wisdom contained in this major address, which included strong language opposed to arming school teachers.

For those on the left who will not like his comments which fail to totally condemn the National Rifle Association or join the growing national chorus for banning assault rifles, consider the actual news in what he said.

He came out for a total ban on the sale and possession of bump stocks, for requiring background checks on all gun sales, a three-day waiting period for the purchase of any pistol or semi-automatic weapon and an increase in the penalties for those who steal firearms. He also advocated banning anyone convicted in a domestic violence case from purchasing a gun and for increasing the civil and criminal penalties for anyone who knowingly transfers a gun to a prohibited person, including a member of one’s own family.

While the law already prohibits a firearms dealer from selling a pistol to anyone under the age of 21, he said the same logic should apply to the sale of semi-automatic weapons, but he stopped short of calling for their ban.

“We also have to get past the idea that more guns in society will make us all safer. The statistics and the data simply do not support that,” he said. “We don’t need guns in the hands of schoolteachers. Simply having more ‘good guys with guns’ is not the solution. Americans do not want to return to the days of the Wild West.”

He came out in favor of repealing the Dickey Amendment to open the door for new research on gun violence prevention, and closing the so-called “Charleston loophole,” which allows a gun buyer to receive a firearm after three days, regardless of whether or not their background check has been completed.

“We can create certain exceptions for concealed carry permit holders and others, but no one should be allowed to take possession of a firearm until they have cleared a background check,” he said. “We can also take steps to deter prohibited individuals from even trying to purchase a firearm.”

He agrees with fixing the NICS reporting system, blocking bonus pay for political appointees who fail to upload records in states and reward states that follow the plan.  It would also create a “domestic abuse and violence prevention program” to give states the ability and incentives to share information to prevent someone convicted of a domestic violence crime from purchasing a gun.

A Discussion

“In the wake of yet another mass shooting, and the rising voices of young people across the country, it is our responsibility – our duty – to have a serious discussion about guns and gun safety,” Jones said. “But that conversation has to be two-fold: we must acknowledge the deadly consequences that can follow when a gun is in the wrong hands, but also recognize and respect the freedom to own and enjoy guns by law-abiding citizens as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution. Those two concepts are not mutually exclusive.”

He said unless a full discussion takes place in the Senate and around the country, gun deaths will continue to rise, citing the latest statistics.

* More than 38,000 people in the U.S. died because of gunfire in 2016.

* Almost 15,000 of those deaths were homicides, while almost 23,000 were suicides and nearly 500 were accidental.

* Gun deaths increased by a “staggering” 34 percent between 2005 and 2016.

* At the same time, Alabama had the second-highest rate of gun deaths in the nation; 1,046 Alabamians were killed by guns in 2016 alone.

“It is time, Mr. President, that we have a serious, pragmatic and practical discussion – not a debate, not a negotiation – but a discussion on the steps that we can take to reduce the harm caused by gun violence in this country,” he said.

Calling on his fellow senators to put aside the partisan infighting to build more trust with the American people, he said, “we need to fundamentally change the way we talk about difficult issues in our country and set an example for our fellow Americans to follow — and dial down the rhetoric.” 

For evidence that Mr. Jones has been paying attention to our call for many years to hold a better, higher level dialogue to make government and democracy work, he quoted my favorite law from science that I have applied in the social sciences.

“Remember that ‘for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction is not just one of Newton’s laws of motion,” Jones said, “but also one of political rhetoric. Extreme views promote equal but opposite extreme views.”

A Tipping Point

He indicated that because of the reaction to recent shootings in Parkland, Florida, “we have finally reached a tipping point regarding gun violence now, not because of the mass shooting … but thanks to the millions of young voices across the country, led by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.”

“Much like the students who took to the streets of Birmingham in 1963, who were attacked by firehoses and police dogs, woke the consciousness of America to civil rights, these young men and women are awakening the consciousness of America regarding gun violence,” he said. “We could spend days in this chamber debating the meaning and intent of the Second Amendment.  We can let our nation further divide itself while more lives are lost.  We can fret about what people are saying about us on social media or whether we might lose campaign contributions. We can again choose the path of inaction, in the face of yet another mass shooting, and expect different results.
 
“Or, we can take another path,” he said. “Let us find what we can agree on, act on it, and begin to make our country a safer place.  We can be reasonable here because we all want the same thing:  a safer country, a safer world.  At its core, the Second Amendment was an effort to protect Americans.  Let us do the same.”

He urged activists to turn their energy away from banning certain weapons, “which as a practical matter will not pass Congress,” and said they would be better off focusing instead on efforts “to keep those weapons and others out of the hands of those who would do us harm.

“You cannot simply demonize the NRA and other pro-gun groups. While I know these groups sometimes take what many, me included, consider extreme positions, they are also representing millions of law-abiding gun owners who are concerned that their right to bear arms is at risk,” he said. “For millions of Americans, gun ownership and enjoyment is a cultural issue with deeply held beliefs.”

He talked about growing up with guns in Alabama and his own love of hunting, but he said on many levels political leaders in the U.S. have failed the people.
 
He urged Republicans and the NRA to “stop using scare tactics to convince law-abiding gun owners that the federal government is hell-bent on taking their guns away.  That is simply not going to happen and everyone knows it,” he said. “As leaders, we must reject an ‘us against them mentality’.”
 
“We are all Americans, who are united by a common bond of shared values and love for our country. There will always be forces that seek to sow division and discord,” he said. “Our challenge and our mission is to prevent them from succeeding. We can seize this moment by changing the conversation and our country.”

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See the full speech on video: