Enough!

Gun violence in America is so routine, a 'normal' fact of life, just like background noise. But, frequently, it breaks through forcefully, thrusting itself into our consciousness, demanding our attention, as it so often does after mass shooting massacres.At such times, the routine response repeats. The call for action on gun violence is raised. Predictably, lawmakers find a way to avoid the issue, and to ride another wave of outrage, until other concerns redirect our attention away, and we return to 'the background noise' of everyday shooting deaths and injuries.Yemo Fashola's book, ENOUGH!, seeks to re-direct the national discourse on gun violence, away from the current pro-gun/anti-gun debate. Developments since the 2018 Valentine's Day school mass shooting in Parkland show that the time to engage in honest and open conversation, is now.An interest-balancing approach would explore ways of ensuring that both the interests of America's gun owners in exercising their Second Amendment right and the interests of the American people in having regulations which protect them from gun violence, are met. The exercise of the 2nd Amendment right of the American people would cease to take precedence over the lives of the American people.The conversation, conducted with all honesty and candor, must address: the need for safety-driven, firearms-related data collection and research; unfettered presence of semi-automatic assault rifles, such as the AR-15, in the hands of civilians, with no required training or accountability; proliferation of handguns, used in most gun-related suicides and homicides - some 80% of gun owners possess at least one handgun.The conversation must address: lawmakers' need to make the laws; law enforcement's need to pursue enforcement that is serious, sustained, and well-funded; bump stock, high-capacity magazine, gun silencer,... hardly fit with the spirit of the 2nd Amendment; most law-abiding gun owners support regulations which do not infringe on their rights - universal background checks, minimum age requirements, mandatory waiting periods, restraining orders,...Additional elements: protection of lawful commerce in arms act (PLCAA), which unduly shields the firearms industry from accountability, uniquely; forcing the concealed carry reciprocity act (CCRA) on states which do not permit 'concealed carry' is an infringement on the 'states rights' of such states... much the same way the Fugitive Slaves Act of 1850 was, by compelling 'free states' to support slavery. Just over a decade later, the Civil War began.These, and other elements, are touched upon in ENOUGH, providing a brief primer and conversation guide for tackling gun violence.AuthorYemo Fashola is a first-generation American citizen. He does not come from a democratic, republican, or libertarian family tradition. He finds it unsettling and sad that the nation is unable to conduct much-needed conversations about issues of national importance realistically. A propensity for ...