opinion

Letter: Can NRA back anything other than ‘more guns?’

If I were a billionaire and had money to burn, I’d take a high-profile stance against gun violence.

First, I’d rent thousands of billboards across the country asking the question: “Gun Owners: Where is Your Weapon Right Now?” Pictures would show a pistol in a car glove compartment, another of an assault rifle propped next to a front door and another of a toddler looking down the barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun. Running along the bottom of each billboard would be: “You are 100% Responsible for Your Weapon 24 Hours a Day.”

A second venture would be sexier. I’d hire a Hollywood screenwriter to come up with an over-the-top movie plot about a bunch of radicals who believe NRA stands for No Respect for Allah. These diehards overtake NRA headquarters, shoot up the place, kill everybody, then fight it out with police before blowing themselves up martyr style. Moral: radical mindsets always result in their own destruction.

A third activity would be an advertising campaign aimed at all gun owners in the U.S. They would receive daily messages that reinforce their responsibilities as weapon holders in a civilian society. Facts, statistics, pictures of children killed by guns, cartoons, humor, drama — virtually any tactic to get and hold attention would be used. Along with massive guilt tripping would be the message that gun owners have been suckered by the NRA and gun makers to buy products they don’t need.

Of course, I’m not a billionaire so none of these ideas will come to fruition under my auspices. But what’s really possible? The NRA slogan “Guns don’t kill people, people do” may be a good place to start. If the NRA really believes this then it should initiate, or at least support, new federal legislation that better supports mental health. Government health-care programs put a premium on physical rather than psychic health.

Is it possible for the NRA to back any other strategy than “more guns?” Hopefully, because the rest of us are getting sick and tired of innocents being slaughtered just so gun advocates can sate their fears and passions.

Gil Mulley lives in Livermore.