“Now is Not the Time . . . .”

I’m a scientist. Science is by far the best way the human species has discovered to understand the natural world, and our place within it.  So why am I not jumping with joy over Congressman Lance’s new-found respect for the scientific process, by calling for a lifting of the ban on federal research on gun violence?

Because the call for research is just a smokescreen for inaction.  Ten years of data collection, plus a protracted effort by the NRA to manufacture doubt over the findings, using the playbook built by the tobacco industry, amounts to another 20 years of hand-wringing.

The truth is, the experiment has been done, in multiple countries, all over the world, and the results are in.  If you want to reduce gun violence, improve gun safety.

Canadians are pretty similar to us. They have mental illness in the population in the same proportion to us.  But they don’t have mass shootings. They are as godless or god-fearing as we are. But they don’t have mass shootings. They have broken homes in the same proportion that we have.  But they don’t have mass shootings. They have the same problems with drugs and alcohol that we have.  But they don’t have mass shootings.  They DO have gun control— and they don’t have mass shootings.  Yet, Canadians do own guns; and they are not subjected to the tyranny of an armed federal government. In science, we call that a “controlled experiment.”  Draw your own conclusion. 

So let’s get away from the idea promulgated by the NRA and their shill Donald Trump that arming our teachers is the solution.  Bill Bratton, a distinguished law enforcement officer, described that as “the height of lunacy.”  

And, no, Wayne Pierre, we are not “exploiting tragedy for political gain.”  What would you have us do after such a tragedy? Bow our heads in prayer and bury the dead, because “now is not the time”?

That mantra IS worth repeating – when Leonard Lance and his supporters come looking for our vote in November.  “No, Congressman Lance, now is not the time.” Remember in November. 

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