The true history of our country is one of extreme genocide and horrific cruelty, perpetrated by property owners and settlers against their slaves and the “savages” who owned the land they wanted. There was a false belief at that time that people of color were inferior to whites and really nothing more than animals who didn’t feel the same pain or loss that whites did.

Unfortunately, this lie of white supremacy is still held by many MAGA Republicans in spite of mountains of evidence to the contrary, and is being widened to include more and more groups who just “aren’t like us.” Republicans repeatedly spread fear by dehumanizing these groups, falsely linking them to violence, child abuse, robbery and drugs, making it easier to shoot them without thought.

Pair this trigger-happiness with the proliferation of guns and the clinging to the Second Amendment, and you have a mess! The fact is that guns in America and the Second Amendment both had their genesis for the purpose of controlling slaves and eliminating Native Americans. Slave patrols and rangers were the “well-regulated militia” to which the amendment referred. The founders never intended for individuals to have a “right” to own guns.

The almost daily mass shootings and senseless gun deaths are a cancer metastasizing across our country and are cruelly decimating even our innocent children. Something must be done now to excise this cancer!

It’s been suggested that we add all semi-automatic weapons to the National Firearms Act which currently regulates only fully automatic guns. Then use the same regulations for all other guns that we use for our cars: prove ownership; prove competence to operate; and purchase liability insurance. I think it’s a good start. These steps don’t infringe on gun ownership yet give some compensation to victims’ families.