As long as humans are humans there will always be crime in this world.

While admitting that some individuals who commit some of the crimes in our society are mentally ill, there are others who do not fall into that category. Many individuals who commit especially horrendous crimes (mass killings for example) truly lack any sense of self-esteem or personal worth, and in their deluded thinking “want to make a name for themselves,” mistakenly believing their actions will make such an impact on society that they will be long remembered!

There is a need for a new direction and thinking in this country, and it is not a need for more so-called gun control or background checks. No background check will ever deter some mentally ill individual from committing some horrendous crime against humanity. There is simply no way to predict the future actions of a mentally ill person, and it’s time for society (and our so-called legislators) to realize this.

I have some suggestions for how to combat the gun-related crimes in this country, and they’re really quite simple. For starters, the media should make it a policy that when someone commits some horrendous sickening crime against society, no mention of that person’s name (or family name) should be included in the news reports. The news media should only report that “some mentally deluded individual” committed the particular crime.

My suggestions:

1. For a first offense, anyone committing a crime (burglary, damage to property, vehicle theft, fleeing law enforcement, assault, shoplifting, breaking and entering, home invasion, road rage or other crime) while in possession of a firearm (or replica) would automatically incur a sentence of incarceration for a period of one year. Any such offense could not be plea bargained down to a lower offense, resulting in nothing more than a mere slap on the wrist.

2. For a conviction of any type of crime against another person or persons, however, while in possession of a firearm (or replica) all privileges of living freely in a civilized society would automatically be forfeited, and result in a minimum sentence of five years in prison without the possibility of parole. It’s time for civilized society to wake up to reality, and finally take steps to confront this issue in a serious manner.

Suggesting more gun control legislation by taking guns away from law-abiding citizens is the true height of stupidity, but it appears that many of today’s legislators have apparently risen to that level.

James Kuebelbeck

St. Joseph