This rural Kentucky lawmaker is turning his back on the NRA and supporting students

Courageous people are the ones who run toward danger. They're the ones who enter burning buildings to save children or rush into firefights to save people they don't even know.

State Rep. Chris Harris, a Pike County Democrat, did just that last week when he announced on the Kentucky House Floor that he had rethought his opposition to gun control laws after school shootings in Kentucky and Florida.

He rushed back into the flames this week when he co-sponsored House Bill 411.

The measure, filed by Democratic Reps. Reginald Meeks and Attica Scott, both of Louisville, would repeal the deranged law that requires guns used in violent crimes and confiscated by police to be resold at auction.

The current law means the gun used to murder two students at Marshall County High School on Jan. 23 will likely be put back on the streets where it can be used to kill others.

The Kentucky State Police auction about 3,600 weapons each year at the bimonthly auctions in Frankfort. Many of the guns are the cheap, semi-automatic pistols that flood the streets of Louisville's West End and fuel the city's murder epidemic.

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Supporting a bill like this is easy for Meeks and Scott. They come from parts of Louisville where it seems like teenagers are dying on a weekly basis because of the drug trade and gang wars.

For a rural legislator like Harris, it's a bit different.

He lives in a county where Donald Trump received more than 80 percent of the vote in the 2016 presidential election. It's exactly the type of place that Barack Obama was talking about in 2008 when he decried the parts of the country that "cling to guns or religion."

But in a floor speech last week, the day after 17 students, teachers and coaches died in the mass shooting at Parkland High School in Florida, Harris said he had had a "change of heart" about guns and was willing to give up his "A" rating from the National Rifle Association because of it.

"I have always been a strong advocate for the 2nd Amendment and I will continue to be, but the time has come for common sense action," he said on the floor.

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Epiphanies like that don't happen often in politics, where it seems that anger and more divisive politics make it more and more difficult for office-holders to reconsider their positions — especially on ingrained issues like gun control.

He called for the banning of assault weapons. He backed outlawing bump stocks, which effectively turn assault weapons into sub-machine guns. He said he supports expanded background checks for gun buyers.

And he said he would back a bill creating criminal penalties for people who recklessly store firearms that wind up in the hands of children.

His support co-sponsoring the bill to repeal the state's ridiculous law that puts guns that kill people back on the streets means that he was serious when he said he was giving up his NRA rating for Lent — and probably for good.

"But if it means one less life is taken senselessly in this commonwealth or in this country, it will be well worth it," he said last week on the floor.

Hooray!

More politicians need to rush into the fire. Children's lives are at stake.

Joseph Gerth's opinion column runs on most Sundays and at various times throughout the week. He can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courier-journal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/josephg.

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