Paul Adinolfi: The gun industry has been getting away with murder

This artwork by Donna Grethen relates to the continuing controversy over guns in the United States. This artwork by Donna Grethen relates to the continuing controversy over guns in the United States. Photo: Donna Grethen Photo: Donna Grethen Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Paul Adinolfi: The gun industry has been getting away with murder 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Despite President Obama current effort to enforce background checks, in reality, he has been easy on the gun industry corporations during his administration. Like our President, advocates for safe gun reforms (practically our entire nation) only want an innocuous, “non-infringing” background check law passed, and are in a constant conflict with the Republican-dominated Congress, the gun lobbies, and the leadership of many gun organizations.

However, the gun industry — the gun, ammunition and sales corporations, who make the Yankee dollar — are the financial culprits who help support and promote them, and are able to maintain anonymity.

When America won its wars to reduce deaths, injuries, and sickness against the automobile and tobacco industries, it directly fought its adversaries, the auto and tobacco corporations. America didn’t have to fight the AAA, who unlike the NRA, worked to make us safer.

There isn’t any doubt the present NRA leaders are under the influence of the gun industry. Prior to 1970, the NRA was concerned for the safety of our citizens and members — and assisted the government in passing gun laws that “infringed” and kept submachine guns and military style assault weapons off the streets.

Sandy Hook parents have a wrongful death suit against the Remington Corporation, over the deadly AR-15. Whether they win or not, they are already successful in putting a spotlight on gun corporations.

President Obama, also a victim of the gun lobby, did nothing in his first term for gun safety reform.

Only after his visit to Sandy Hook did he become a strong supporter for gun safety reform.

Tears came to his eyes when the subject of the little angels who were lost in Sandy Hook came up while he was making a speech promoting background check laws — however, he brought tears to my eyes when all he had to tell gun corporations was to develop “smart” guns or “safe” guns. The CEOs from gun corporations must love Obama — he wants them to make millions of “smart” guns to replace “dumb” guns, or “unsafe” guns. This should make them billions of dollars in sales.

While “smart” guns are a step in the right direction, they won’t replace the millions of guns in circulation today. Even the President’s push for background checks will only have a minuscule effect on gun deaths — we still will have three hundred million guns in circulation.

Connecticut and states with gun registration and licensing have reduced gun violence — statistics have proved that the states with weak regulations have more gun deaths. Connecticut would be even safer if other states had our laws — over half the crimes committed are with guns from other states.

The Second Amendment is our only national gun law, and when it was written, they did not have a weapon of mass destruction — the AR-15, which can fire off hundreds of shots in the time a musket could only fire one. The Second Amendment only adds to our gun violence problems.

Since everyone in our country agrees we do not want criminals and the mentally unstable to possess guns, then why not bring the Second Amendment into the twenty-first century, and rewrite it, to make it clear that “only law-abiding and mentally stable people have the right to bear non-military guns!”

When the laws of one state affect the safety and welfare of the citizens of another state, then a uniform national law is required. Connecticut and the U.S.A. learned that lesson with the minimum alcoholic drinking age. How many Connecticut youths were unnecessarily killed or injured coming home from New York, because both states had different minimum drinking ages? It stopped only when all states agreed on a national minimum drinking age of 21.

President Obama finally shot a bulls-eye when he said that we must only vote for candidates who want gun reform. This is the only way we can replace the gun puppets in Congress!

Paul Adinolfi is a resident of Sandy Hook.