Sep. 26, 2023

Dear Editor,

I applaud Governor Lujan-Grisham’s courage to issue an emergency firearms suspension, classified as a public health safety, across Albuquerque and the surrounding county for at least 30 days in response to the death of an 11-year-old boy in early September. Let’s take this time to pause and think what kind of a country we have become; one fixated on gun rights and ownership, a country with more guns than people. 

Responsibility is the key concept for gun ownership, one in which we are failing pathetically as a nation. Guns are instruments of death, so having strict boundaries on training and types of guns allowed is reasonable. NM law does not require a waiting period to purchase a gun. Does this make sense? Guns are not the equalizing instruments as some claim because we live in an unequal society. Rather, guns make existing inequalities more volatile.

When the second amendment was written, guns didn’t define the personality of an individual, nor was their ownership politicized. Sadly, times have changed.

I want to live in a country that doesn’t become impervious to the horror of another mass shooting.  Each tragic instance should be a wakeup call for us to pause and think deeply if we are on the right course.  I wonder how different our country might look, if in our Constitution, we had a Bill of Responsibilities instead of a Bill of Rights.

Carol Ann Fugagli

Silver City, NM