"Never forget" is not Enough

I first heard the phrase "Never forget" at a commemoration of Krystallnact at the Rider University Chapel in the mid 1980's. Wikipedia says Krystallnact was a pogrom (a series of coordinated attacks) against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on November 9-10, 1938. It was carried out by SA (Stabzarzt, i.e. German military) paramilitary and civilians. German authorities looked on without intervening. The attacks left the streets covered with broken glass from the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues. We all should know how it ended.

I was sitting in the third row of pews, with about forty other people, listening to personal stories of despair and horror.  Then six candles were lit on the menorah. When the service was over, I left, not knowing what to say to anyone there. The Rider University Holocaust/Genocide Resource Center, first opened in 1984. Marvin, Joan, Harvey and Carol were (and some still are), the dedicated people I met, and got to know, who were spearheading the Center's outreach and education programs.

In the early 1990s the Center hosted a free bus trip for clergy to the newly opened (1992) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I was representing the Baha'is, and there were about fifteen of us going. On the way down, the bus showed videos of the Center's education program, to be used in NJ schools. At the museum, like everyone who entered, I was given a card describing a person who had been killed by the Nazis. Some of these cards were also of children, or aged grandparents.

The museum itself was very evocative of the time period, with life sized cattle cars inside, where the Nazis transported thousands of Jews. The most touching part for me, was listening to stories of some of the survivors on a TV screen in an open auditorium. I vowed to "Never forget" what had happened. The real purpose of the vow however, was to never let it happen again.

Of course it has, and on a big scale, as recently as Syria, or Israel and the Palestinians, or the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, where some Hutus slaughtered Tutsis. Over 800,000 people died in that civil war. On a small but no less shocking and painful scale, we now have Newtown, CT to add to Aurora CO, and Columbine High School, also in Colorado. These were committed by lone gunmen, but they are genocide none the less, the killing of innocent adults and children. But saying we won't ever forget them is not enough.

We forget the news all the time. There's so much of it now, it crowds our head for attention. We are bombarded with news channels on TV, radio, even our cellphones. We can't escape the news. That's why we forget. We are pulled from one ugly event to the next, with no time to process the impact and ramifications, and act on what has happened. To act - to change society and people so it doesn't happen again. That's what we are looking to our leaders for - leadership. Guidance - a path away from violence and insecurity. A path to safety and peacefulness which we all want above all else, for ourselves and our chiildren.

Something needs to be done about access to guns in this country. and there's easy things we can do:
1. Maintain a database of anyone diagnosed with mental illness, and prevent them from buying or owning a gun legally. This means doctors must be required to report mentally ill patients to a government administered database, accessible online. Call it NDMI - National Database of the Mentally Ill. We've finally reached a stage in our development where mental illness is no longer a stigma. I should know, I've been bipolar since 1979.

I say this because, being mentally ill, and having been manic or hypomanic almost five times, I can tell you that I was not in control of my thoughts or actions. I had no semblance of reality or rationality to stop me from doing anything that occurred to me. Anything. A good example, is that one time while having an episode, the thought came to me while driving, "Go ahead, speed up and drive right into that tree." If while manic I have no cares about my own physical well-being, I can tell you that others count even less.

Another word for manic is psychotic. During my episodes I was psychotic; I cared only and exclusively about myself. Luckily, I did not become psychopathic as well, with a total disregard for others well-being. The point is, I WAS NOT IN CONTROL. Being bipolar means I have an incurable mental illness. However, luckily, my condition can be helped, and is helped, with the right medications. That is not true for all mentally ill persons.

2. All guns sold must be registered in the seller's name, and in the buyer's name. Full verifiable address information must be available on both the buyer AND seller. They both must be legal adults, and they each must register their Social Security number as well, which is the closest thing we have to universal ID (which is sorely needed). Their (criminal) backgound must be checked. Any violent offense should be cause for immediate rejection.

3. All gun shows and their sales must be carefully monitored and controlled by the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives). Again, both buyers and sellers must be fully vetted. Buyers and sellers must be screened on premises with the NCIC database. (National Crime Information Center). Anyone arrested, or convicted of a crime, must be on this central database. Anyone with a record of arrest for violence of any kind, as in domestic violence, assault etc. or possessing a firearm illegally, and/or they are convicted of such crimes, are forever barred from legally acquiring a gun of any kind. Ideally not just in the United States, but all countries.

4. As they are now, all hunters must be legally licensed and monitored. They must be forbidden to sell a gun privately, however, they can sell a gun to a registered dealer or a registered gun owner, as long as the transaction is recorded and reported immediately. Once annually gun owners must bring their guns to the police station to check their valid registrations, or the police can set up administrative personnel to go at the gun owner's home, for an administrative fee to cover expenses.

5. No one is allowed to conceal a weapon when in public. The only exceptions are police and detectives, FBI, Secret Service, military, licensed private detectives etc. General citizens have no right to a concealed weapon of any kind.

6. Assault weapons must be banned, like Uzi's and AK-47's. That also includes high-capacity ammo and gun magazines. The only guns allowed for private sale will be handguns and rifles for a person's private protection and safety (with a limit on how many), and guns used by hunters.

7. I believe there's already law or regulation that states owners must notify police (?) if their gun(s) is/are stolen. This should stay in force, and have penalties for non-compliance.

These rules and laws will be a start to curbing gun violence, because it still takes a person to pull the trigger. People kill people, with or without guns. And all killing must be illegal except in self-defense. That includes re-looking at manslaughter in death-by-auto cases.

Maybe, just maybe, rules and laws like these will begin to help prevent these senseless crimes. And there seems to be a sea change, a tipping point, after these children's shootings. I've heard on NPR that a few conservative Republicans were even calling for review. On Fox 29, watching the news at 8 am, they showed demonstrators outside the offices of the NRA in DC this morning. There was no response from NRA spokespersons. But a man there said to the crowd, "Instead of banning guns, we should arm the teachers." I don't think much about that idea. We need good laws to prevent chaos.

Bottom line, we have moved on since 1787 and our original Constitution. Owning a gun should no longer be a right, but a privilege, a monitored and controlled privilege -- whether by private citizens, police, military or others.Autos don't kill people, drivers do, but we license them in all 50 states. And all states require vehicle registration. In 2011 there were over 32,300 automobile deaths of all kinds.

CNN reported 5,400 licensed firearms manufacturers, as well as 310 million non-military firearms, in the U.S. in 2011. In mid-2011 there were 311 million Americans.