OP-ed by Vice President Joe Biden: Background checks are key to gun safety

[Tx4obama]

Biden: Background checks are key to gun safety

In recent years, Americans have witnessed a series of senseless tragedies resulting from mass shootings. Perhaps the most shocking of all took place on Dec. 14, 2012, in Newtown, Conn., when 20 beautiful babies and six brave teachers and administrators were massacred at an elementary school.

But every community, Houston included, suffers from the carnage of gun violence. In the aftermath of Newtown, President Barack Obama asked me to help him identify common-sense solutions to keep guns out of the wrong hands. As the National Rifle Association slogan goes, guns don't kill people, people kill people. So why not close giant loopholes in our laws that allow criminals and other potentially dangerous individuals to arm themselves?

In one of the many meetings I held as I prepared those recommendations, I met a young man named Colin Goddard who had survived the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech. To this day, Colin has several bullets in his body. "I'm not here because of what happened to me," he explained. "I'm here because what happened to me keeps happening to other people. And we need to do something about it."

To Colin and to the victims and families affected by every senseless death caused by a gun in the hands of someone who shouldn't have one, I say this: We will do something about it.

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Full article here: http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Biden-Background-checks-are-key-to-gun-safety-4487170.php

A Good Read.