Gun laws are hopeful

In his 1848 preface to the 12th edition of “Democracy in America,” written in 1835, French writer, social scientist, philosopher and politician Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “It is not force alone, but good laws that give stability to a new government. After the combatant comes the legislator; the one has pulled down, the other builds up.” Should he have been here for the passage on April 20, 2021, of state Senate Bill 5038, prohibiting the open carry of weapons at public demonstrations and at the state capitol, he would have celebrated it as a good law, a stabilizing law in a country now awash in guns and gun violence.

When de Tocqueville visited America, it was to investigate Democracy as a working concept. France had literally just thrown off the monarchy in 1830, but America had already practiced this new form of government for 60 years. “Where else could we find greater causes of hope,” he writes, “or more instructive lessons? Let us look to America.”

Would he still see, in 2021, the same America he saw 186 years ago, a republic where, “the principles of order, of the balance of powers, of true liberty, of deep and sincere respect for right, are indispensable?” America’s combatant is no longer English rule, rather those citizens in this country who hold a blind and raging belief in their right to carry weapons and who spread intimidation and fear; police forces who use deadly force with staggering regularity; gangs with guns, those combatants are pulling us down.

Still, the passage of SB 5038 in Washington state, of Colorado’s and Oregon’s gun storage bills, the incredible work of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, of so many students and citizens, we the people, who do not want to live in constant fear of gun violence, offer hope.

Thank you,

Christine Wardenburg-Skinner

Edison