From the Baltimore Sun:
Years after massacre, guns still easy to get
Five years ago on Tuesday, two teen-agers murdered 13 and wounded 23 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. Among the guns they used was a modified TEC-9 assault pistol, designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible.
Since then, Congress has done nothing to restrict the availability of these weapons. It was all too easy for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to obtain their devastating weapons then, and it remains so today.
And the availability of assault weapons will be further enhanced on Sept. 14, when the 1994 federal assault weapons ban, which bans some assault weapons but by no means all, is due to expire.
And where is President Bush on assault weapons? He is eagerly promoting the renewal of the USA Patriot Act, which doesn't expire until 2005, yet hasn't lifted a finger or voice to urge renewal and strengthening of the assault weapons ban, which expires in less than five months.
Until our political leaders act to ban these weapons of war from the hands of children, it's only a matter of time before another Columbine happens. Don't we owe our children more than that?
Leah Barrett
Baltimore
Years after massacre, guns still easy to get
Five years ago on Tuesday, two teen-agers murdered 13 and wounded 23 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. Among the guns they used was a modified TEC-9 assault pistol, designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible.
Since then, Congress has done nothing to restrict the availability of these weapons. It was all too easy for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to obtain their devastating weapons then, and it remains so today.
And the availability of assault weapons will be further enhanced on Sept. 14, when the 1994 federal assault weapons ban, which bans some assault weapons but by no means all, is due to expire.
And where is President Bush on assault weapons? He is eagerly promoting the renewal of the USA Patriot Act, which doesn't expire until 2005, yet hasn't lifted a finger or voice to urge renewal and strengthening of the assault weapons ban, which expires in less than five months.
Until our political leaders act to ban these weapons of war from the hands of children, it's only a matter of time before another Columbine happens. Don't we owe our children more than that?
Leah Barrett
Baltimore