There have been no posts from me since September 7 or about one month. Why? Well, like just about everyone else I or rather this site was hacked. So some of the stuff which you might have been reading in the past month was not mine and God knows where it came from. Now that the problem is at least for the present fixed. I can start in again.

The recent news from Roseburg about the mass shooting was horrific. In decades of emergency room practice, I have seen my share of gunshot related deaths. To be honest with you each and every one is painful.

It would too nice if there were an easy solution to what appears to be all too common in this country: gun related violence. Yet, there are some reasonable steps we as a society can and should take. We make up about 5% of the world’s population and suffer over 33% of the world’s mass shooting deaths. About 43% of American households own guns and yes this is significantly higher than the oft quoted Switzerland, a country with very lax gun laws as well. 29% of Swiss households have guns, much less than the 43% in America.

Call me naive, but i fail to see any reason why anyone other than the police and military should own assault weapons. When was the last time you shot that deer with an military grade assault weapon? Do you really need that Uzzi to protect your house?

Yes I am well aware of the second amendment, but I wonder whether the founding fathers, had they known about assault weapons would have included this as a basic right.
The argument that if guns were permitted everywhere including schools and even in places of worship such tragedies could have been prevented strikes me as absurd. Would you want your neighbor who has nothing in his record to prevent him from owning a gun, but drinks too much to have an automatic weapon? What about your coworker also with a clean record who harbors grudges against others? In fact, anyone who has ever gotten mad might punch a wall but if a gun is available who knows?

Having sensible gun control laws including a ban on assault weapons makes sense. Who objects to having a drivers license? Why should it be harder to get that drivers license than to buy a gun?

As one who has treated many victims of gun violence for too many years, I am just sick and tired of hearing about yet another senseless mass killing.