St. Helena Star - Editorial: Support Thompson In His Efforts To Curb Gun Violence
January 3, 2013
In our endorsement of Rep. Mike Thompson for an eighth term in the U.S. Congress, we wrote at length about the significant influence his leadership has had on Napa County.
That leadership found greater national purpose last week.
Prompted by the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Conn., Thompson has been selected to chair a new congressional task force on gun control. The panel will be focused specifically on reducing and preventing gun violence throughout the nation.
In announcing his appointment, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, described Thompson as “ideally suited” to channel the nation's energy toward gun reform. A Vietnam veteran, hunter and former co-chair of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, Thompson has earned the bipartisan respect necessary to lead an effort to untangle the Second Amendment.
Quelling gun violence isn't about personal freedoms or the right to bear arms. It's about stripping away political agendas to address fundamental flaws in a system that all too often lets rampage and mayhem burst through.
There will always be weapons. But as a nation, certainly we can better limit access to the most deadly.
National policy change on assault rifles and ammunition is an obvious start, but what matters most in preventing mass shootings is identifying and combating the motivation behind such action. That includes better understanding of the nation's mental health needs and also its thirst for stylized violence in entertainment outlets.
The task force that Thompson, D-St. Helena, now chairs will set out to author new weapons legislation likely targeting, at the least, assault weapons and the background check procedures used to vet their purchase. Perhaps more importantly, it must also examine what prompts the destruction these guns can facilitate.
As identified by a violence prevention group at Rutgers University, the essential elements of integrated threat assessment and violence prevention require a balance of improved communication, connectedness and support.
Careful inspection of those objectives suggests that Thompson, known by his peers as a moderate willing to work across the aisle, is indeed the ideal candidate to lead this committee, working with Vice President Joe Biden, who was tasked with a similar mission by the Obama administration.
For all of us asking what we as individuals can do to help in the aftermath of the shocking events in Connecticut, at least one answer has presented itself: Support our local congressman in his efforts to lead the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.
That leadership found greater national purpose last week.
Prompted by the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Conn., Thompson has been selected to chair a new congressional task force on gun control. The panel will be focused specifically on reducing and preventing gun violence throughout the nation.
In announcing his appointment, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, described Thompson as “ideally suited” to channel the nation's energy toward gun reform. A Vietnam veteran, hunter and former co-chair of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, Thompson has earned the bipartisan respect necessary to lead an effort to untangle the Second Amendment.
Quelling gun violence isn't about personal freedoms or the right to bear arms. It's about stripping away political agendas to address fundamental flaws in a system that all too often lets rampage and mayhem burst through.
There will always be weapons. But as a nation, certainly we can better limit access to the most deadly.
National policy change on assault rifles and ammunition is an obvious start, but what matters most in preventing mass shootings is identifying and combating the motivation behind such action. That includes better understanding of the nation's mental health needs and also its thirst for stylized violence in entertainment outlets.
The task force that Thompson, D-St. Helena, now chairs will set out to author new weapons legislation likely targeting, at the least, assault weapons and the background check procedures used to vet their purchase. Perhaps more importantly, it must also examine what prompts the destruction these guns can facilitate.
As identified by a violence prevention group at Rutgers University, the essential elements of integrated threat assessment and violence prevention require a balance of improved communication, connectedness and support.
Careful inspection of those objectives suggests that Thompson, known by his peers as a moderate willing to work across the aisle, is indeed the ideal candidate to lead this committee, working with Vice President Joe Biden, who was tasked with a similar mission by the Obama administration.
For all of us asking what we as individuals can do to help in the aftermath of the shocking events in Connecticut, at least one answer has presented itself: Support our local congressman in his efforts to lead the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.