Last August in Dayton, Ohio, a gunman shot and killed nine people and injured many others. In El Paso, Texas, that same weekend, a gunman shot and killed 20 people and injured more than two dozen.
In the early days after these two mass killings, The Salt Lake Tribune ran the headline, “Romney and Herbert agree it is time for action on guns.” Quoting from The Tribune, Sen. Mitt Romney, "said that states are the most likely place for effective new gun laws, but he is likely to get behind federal legislation requiring universal background checks for gun purchasers.” And, “We need to make bump stocks illegal.”
Both of these issues are in bills in Congress, with no action promised by the GOP Senate. Congress is essentially hamstrung.
Gov. Gary Herbert was quoted in the same article that the time for “action at the state level” may be here, that “All things ought to be on the table for discussion,” and that “We need to take some action.”
Our Legislature has infrequently passed, and more often failed to pass, various efforts to decrease gun violence. And what has Herbert done to further the “discussion” he encouraged?
It would appear he has done nothing, unless he is working quietly behind the public scenes, for which I would commend him.
Meanwhile, news of the latest two mass shootings has gradually faded into the background behind other headlines, the aftermath left to those directly involved in dealing with death of loved ones and the physical and emotional recovery, if possible, of the injured and their families.
Here in Utah, the families of victims of suicides, homicides and accidental shootings will struggle all their lives with the aftermath of gun violence.
As a retired pediatrician, I’ve seen Utah make great strides in protecting children riding in vehicles. But gun deaths and injuries continue unabated. As pointed out by David Burns in a recent commentary in The Tribune, “American children are 36 times more likely to suffer a gun-related injury than children in peer countries,” and that “we are in a gun crisis.”
The various groups, pro- and anti-gun regulation, continue to snipe at each other, with little discussion among these groups that might permit progress. But even gun rights advocate Clark Aposhian of the Utah Shooting Sports Council and Morissa Sobelson of Intermountain Healthcare have written in The Tribune about the coming together of all sides of the gun violence issue to prevent suicides.
So, Gov. Herbert, what are you doing, what will you do about this crisis, about the number of lives lost, about the number of children and teens and adults killed or injured?
I would suggest in this public letter to you, as I have suggested privately multiple times in the past four years, that you appoint a Governor’s Task Force on Gun Violence, to bring together people on all sides of the issue, chaired by a strong, neutral leader, in a group willing to listen, discuss, compromise and design a bill or bills acceptable to the group, that can be forwarded to our legislature for passage to decrease gun violence in our state.
I believe such a task force is the only way Utah can move this issue forward, in “the Utah way.”
Thanks for again considering this, and I look forward to your response.
Tom Metcalf
Tom Metcalf, Murray, is a retired pediatrician repeatedly horrified at the ever-increasing death toll of gun violence in children and other people.
