There is something new in the gun control argument (Jill Jasper, “Guns” letter to the editor, May 27, Idaho Statesman): Gun insurance. She points out that when vehicles kill people, intentionally or unintentionally, there is usually insurance in place to pay for damages. When guns kill people (and they do), “... families and taxpayers have to cover the costs of shootings.”
All things considered, the cost for school shootings is enormous. We are paying dearly for our allegiance to the Second Amendment. We have heard little, recently, from the NRA, except for the teenagers out protesting the school shooting victims, which seems callous.
We must ask, should responsibility for damages fall on the gun owner or the shooter? I suggest a one-time insurance payment of $1,000 at the time of purchase from a licensed gun dealer to be placed in a fund to help cover damages caused by that gun. This would necessitate gun registration, which the gun lobby resists but law enforcement uses anyway. (Read “Lethal Passage” by Erik Larson, author of “Isaac’s Storm.” Read that, too. Wow.)
So, maybe we should ask, which side are you on, the shooters or the children?
