Here we go again?

I grew up around weapons. I used weapons, from pistols, to M-16A1, to .55 Caliber Machine Gun, while in the Marines. I own a weapon. I have no problem with Concealed Carry.

That said,

We have another shooting and the usual suspects are coming forward: Gun Control, 2nd Amendment rights, NRA and Trump haters, and once again, lines are drawn in social media and beyond.

In the midst of this, a report by the New York Times states that this person, who was given a Bad Conduct Discharge due to Courts Martial for assault on his spouse and child, managed to clear an FBI Background check that should have shown his discharge status. It is yet unclear if a Bad Conduct Discharge warrants prohibition from gun ownership but I think that the assault (felony) charges brought about in the Courts Martial should have been enough to prevent this man from purchasing a weapon. Either way, the FBI apparently did not get this information from the DoD.

If the article from the NY Times is correct, then people died because our current gun laws are not being enforced as they should and there are clearly gaps in the process for verifying eligibility to own a weapon. In short, what happened Sunday could have been avoided not by "having tougher gun laws" but by responsibly enforcing current law and procedure.

 I hope that the DoD does all it can to correct the problem.

The NRA, in the wake of the shooting in Las Vegas, agreed to get behind limiting or outright eliminating bump stocks.  That is a good start, but we should revisit how we deal with mental illness in our country. I also think that we should be doing a better job of enforcing current gun laws. It is one thing when the bad guy plays the system. It is quite another when the system simply does not work.

When one considers that there are about as many (if not more) guns in the country as there are citizens, shouldn't there be a moral imperative to do at least that?