Former Secretary of Labor; Democratic Challenger MA Governor
Limit handgun sales to one per month
We must increase penalties for weapons trafficking, and pass legislation to limit handgun sales to one per month for those who are legally permitted to buy them.
And we must have enough police on the streets and enough prosecutors in the courts to catch gun criminals and send them to jail.
If I had my way, there’d be laws restricting cigarettes and handguns. But this Congress won’t even pass halfway measures. Teenage boys continue to shoot up high schools, yet Congress won’t pass stricter gun controls. The politically potent cigarette and
gun industries have got what they wanted: no action. Almost makes you lose faith in democracy, doesn’t it?
The goal of [recent litigation] efforts is to threaten the industries with the risk of such large penalties that they’ll agree to a deal--for
the gunmakers, to limit bulk purchases and put more safety devices on guns to prevent accidental shootings.
But the way to fix everything isn’t to turn our backs on the democratic process and pursue litigation as the administration is doing.
It’s to campaign for people who promise to take action against cigarettes and guns, and against the re-election of House and Senate members who won’t. In short, the answer is to make democracy work better, not give upon it.
Source: The American Prospect, vol.11, no.5, “Smoking, Guns”
Jan 17, 2000
