The contrast between this rapid response and government’s feeble response to the 40,000 firearm deaths last year, including suicides, is striking. And yet, how to reduce firearm deaths is among the most controversial issues in the United States. It need not be this way.

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I am a long-term firearm owner, a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association since 1965, a former NRA firearms instructor, a retired supervisory ATF federal agent and a board member of the ATF Association. If other NRA members and the public saw even a bit of what ATF special agents and law enforcement officers see on a regular basis, they would understand why we should be moving toward more reasonable gun laws.

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During my years as an ATF agent, my office occasionally had to seize firearms from the public. These gun owners were typically in possession of weapons that were banned under the National Firearms Act, often without their knowledge or intent. Sometimes the weapons were delivered to them by mistake; others had purchased them without knowing they should have registered them under the NFA.

Once, I led a few special agents to retrieve several firearms from a local Philadelphia resident. We found one loaded firearm being used as a doorstop in his house. On another occasion, the resident had loaded firearms in every room and on almost every flat surface. Given the recent news stories of infants shooting mothers, themselves or other children, it’s clear that “common sense” laws must prevail.

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I want to be clear: No law will prevent all gun deaths, but there are laws that have been shown to greatly reduce these tragic deaths. First, there must be universal background checks for all gun sales. Prohibited persons shouldn’t be allowed to purchase firearms, yet “gun show” and resale loopholes make it impossible to know the background of gun buyers. Multiple surveys have found that most NRA members as well as nearly 90 percent of Americans support mandatory background checks for all firearms sales. It’s time to make this a reality.

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We also need to revive the ban on assault rifles and large-capacity magazines, including “drum magazines” that are capable of holding 300 rounds. Such weapons have resulted in unfathomable misery in recent mass murders, such as in Las Vegas; El Paso; Parkland, Fla.; and far too many other places. A ban on assault rifles does not have as much support as universal background checks, especially among my fellow members of the NRA, but it’s the right thing to do.

The Second Amendment ensures the right to keep and bear arms, and the Supreme Court has affirmed that right. But the court has made clear that the Second Amendment does not rule out reasonable gun control measures. As recently as between the years 1994 and 2004, our country’s lawmakers and courts found it reasonable to ban military-style assault weapons.

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Gun owners across the country know this. No hunter needs an AR-15 to bring down a deer. No homeowner needs such a weapon to defend his or her family against intruders. To those who argue that assault rifles protect against a tyrannical government, real or imagined, I would simply observe that these weapons didn’t become available to the public until the 1970s, and citizens managed to maintain their freedom just fine before then.

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What about the freedom of law-abiding gun owners? To be sure, for gun enthusiasts, a ban or registration on assault weapons curtails their freedom to enjoy firearm collecting, target shooting or other things they like. But what is the cost to the rest of Americans under current policy?

Since 1999, there have been 115 mass shootings that have claimed 941 lives and injured 1,431 others. Of those mass murders, more than 25 percent involved semiautomatic rifles, accounting for 40 percent of all fatalities and 69 percent of all injuries. My own elementary-school-age grandchildren participate in active shooter drills. Family friends are reluctant to go to shopping malls, concerts and other public spaces.

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The most powerful organized opposition to common-sense gun safety laws is the NRA. I was once proud to be a part of the NRA, back when it was associated with rifle marksmanship, firearm safety and patriotism. But today’s NRA is unrecognizable to me.

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If you are a member of the NRA, I urge you to withhold your membership dues until that organization moderates its hard-line opposition. The status quo is simply unacceptable for our great nation.