[Politics] The Urban Gun Debate

It's been a long time since we had a serious discussion about guns in this country, and following the shootings at Virginia Tech you would think the issue would get raised again. It hasn't. Many have said that the Democrats have turned their heads on the unpopular issue. What's worse is that I don't know that if the Democrats were speaking up on it they would be approaching the issue properly. It's not that I think guns should be banned. I know, people kill people, not guns, but people with guns kill more people than those without. So we still need to be willing to keep guns out of the hands of the people using them to kill.

Rep. Tom Tiahrt (R-Kansas) is sponsoring a House amendment to ban the sharing of gun trace data between federal agents and municipal police departments. The biggest opponent of the amedment is a coalition of more than 200 mayors form around the country led by New York's own Michael Bloomberg. Read Time's article about it.

This is what I like about Bloomberg. He understands the power and importance of city politics in relation to the dominant national scene. Gun violence is one of the most concerning issues for all cities, as is shown by the overwhelming number of mayors behind Bloomberg's confrontation of the national leaders. And yet, while gun violence is a concern for such a large portion of the nation's population (though albeit, one that does not take up a large amount of space) it is not a concern for our sprawling rural areas in the same way, and naturally, these are the places where many of the guns used to commit crimes in cities come from.

This disconnect between gun sales and gun use in rural states and cities is a significant crisis for the nation because it means that if we want to keep the second amendment we need to learn how to have a debate that is fair to responsible gun owners and cities looking to prevent and prosecute gun violence. This is possible. It just takes a little creative thinking, and an essential part of that creative thinking is the sharing of information between the federal government and the local governments.

If we have learned nothing since September 11th, it should be that a flow of data, intelligence and information between federal and local authorites can prevent crime and create a smarter law enforement atmosphere. It is not a matter of whether or not the information violates the privacy of gun owners or gun dealers. The informaton is already there. It is only a matter of whether or not it is shared.

Recently, Bloomberg sued several out-of-state gun dealers for illegally selling guns used which wound up being used in crimes in New York. The NYPD conducted an undercover sting operation to catch these dealers. Critics have said that Bloomberg is out of his jurisdiction enforcing a federal law through a civil suit, but what Bloomberg is really doing is taking action on behalf of urban politics.

If Democrats are having too much trouble nuancing a position on gun control to mention it, then it is about time for those affected by illegal gun sales and gun violence to do something about it.