Westside Story – Senator O’Ban’s Task Force Aims To Save Lives

Senator Steve O’Ban has done it again! Every time I read or hear about Senator O’Ban expressing an opinion, voting on an issue, or taking action, I am always pleased with his high level of intelligence, and I frequently note his efforts seem directed towards benefiting the majority of citizens in our community.

On November 10, 2018, an article appeared in The Suburban Times, in which Senator O’Ban made public his support of the recommendations radiating from a task force he created earlier this year. The purpose of the task force was to develop and study ideas on how to prevent “potential perpetrators” from committing mass shootings.

I compliment Senator O’Ban for reaching past the loud public outcry blindly demanding more gun control especially because some of the proposed gun control ideas have the potential to result in the victimization and death of honest citizens.

A recent example of gun control creating an environment making the killing of innocent people unstoppable was the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, California. Six professional highly trained off-duty police officers were inside the bar at the time of the carnage, but not one of them used their firearm, training, or skills to save a single life. Why? Because the California gun control supporters made the country western dance hall a “Gun Free Zone”. All six off duty police officers were unarmed because of the gun free zone law. The questions that follow are how many of the 12 victims died because of gun control? How many innocent people were injured because of gun control? How many families and friends of the dead and injured were devastated and marked for the rest of their lives by overzealous gun control?

Senator O’Ban’s effort is concentrating on how we can attempt to keep firearms out of the hands of those who suffer mental health issues. The mental health component to the mass shooting tragedy equation typically fails to gather enough attention, conversation, debate, or action. Instead the focus is generally directed towards gun control.

While I am pro-gun rights and support the Second Amendment, I am willing to give up all my firearms if someone can guarantee two things:

1. My safety and that of my family. Unfortunately, no one is willing to provide me with a 24-hour guard for each member of my family.
2. Guarantee that criminals and the mentally ill will not be able to obtain and possess guns.

If we enacted gun control laws that many cry out for, honest citizens will be stripped of a means to protect themselves like in Thousand Oaks, California. Criminals and mass shooters would be the only ones with guns possibly obtained through a thriving black market created and supported as an unintended result of gun control.

I am pleased to see Senator O’Ban working on a real solution that is focused on one of the real problems related to gun violence, mental illness. His task force focussed on developing ideas that will attempt to separate those with mental health issues from firearms. Mental illness plus guns often equals injury or death to the mentally ill themselves, (suicide), their loved ones, and total strangers.

I thank you Senator O’Ban. Your crystal clear thinking and creative problem solving can go a long way toward saving lives.