This isn’t a scientific survey at all, but I tossed out the following question to my Facebook friends: “I’m truly interested in hearing your opinion on what can or can't be done to address random gun violence such as seen in Florida last week. I’m putting together an editorial and would appreciate the feedback from you.”

The comments I received are thoughtful and are certainly worth sharing. Here are a bunch:

“I grew up around guns and I enjoy target shooting. But they definitely need to be regulated better. A car is a transportation tool. To have one, the owner must register it, insure it, and has the right to sue the manufacturer. A gun is a tool for killing, yet none of these regulations for cars are needed for guns. That doesn’t make any sense to me.”

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“One thing I know can’t be done. You can debate, regulate, and educate all you want but unfortunately you'll never fully eradicate the hate (or potentially mental health issues) that are largely the root cause of these acts of violence.”

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“I think there are two steps that should be taken. The first is to tighten up the background checks and licensing for all weapons. I think a safety/responsibility course should be mandatory, and passing said course should be a prerequisite for ownership.

“The second is an outright ban on semiautomatic weapons. Outside of law enforcement and the military, no one needs something like an AR-15. And I don't want to hear anything about using them for hunting. I grew up in a family that had guns and went hunting. We (and many generations before us) did just fine without one.

“Oh, and one more thing – why is it that you can't buy a beer until you’re 21, but you can buy a gun? Seems a little ridiculous.”

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“The history of the gun debate is fraught with howls about Constitutional rights. Those howls completely ignore the incontrovertible fact that every right carries with it a responsibility. The First Amendment right of free expression of one’s views has its responsibilities to avoid fraud, hate speech and sedition, for example. Anyone who wishes to exercise his or her right to ‘bear arms’ has a responsibility to exercise caution to keep those arms from being used to harm others. The government has a responsibility to regulate all rights and ensure that one person’s right is not exercised to the detriment of others.

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“My two cents:

• Ban weapons, ammo, magazines and other features that are only produced to kill and maim in an efficient and rapid way that are used in military settings

• Close the gun show loophole and have a background check on every weapon sold

• Make the standards for legally buying a firearm the same in each state

• Ensure that NICS gets all the data that it should have

• Explore effective ways to bar folks with mental health issues that are prone to violence like this without taking away the Second Amendment rights of plenty of folks who may have mental health issues that would never dream of carrying out a mass shooting

• Figure out ways to make places where vulnerable people are more secure and more safe

• Take public threats on social media, or otherwise, as serious as you would a threat on an elected official or the President.”

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“Massachusetts gun laws should be the gold standard and become federal law. However the problem is not the scary looking AR15, the problem is the magazine capacity. Limit them to 10 like Massachusetts. Connecticut lowered theirs to 10 after the Sandy Hook slaughter. I’m a gun owner in Massachusetts and Florida. We can all live it.”

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What do you think is the solution? Please drop me a line at news@thereminder.com.

I beleive there have to be national standards rather than just state standards. Banning the kind of weapons used in the Florida shootings must be done across the country.

States could still maintain a number of their own laws, but it’s clear these semi-automatic weapons are a national, rather than a state issue.

So is the issue of background checks. There has to be a better way to ensure guns do not wind up in the hands of people who should not have them.

Mental health issues and the prevention of gun sales to those who are suffering from issues that affect their judgment should also be national, rather than state standards.

None of this, in my humble opinion is going to be effective until Congress is going to listen to the American people rather than lobbyists and be willing to fund programs to try to stem the violence.   

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In last week’s edition’s story about Donald Flannery, Flannery referenced a conversation he had with state Rep. Angelo Puppolo. Puppolo told Reminder Publications the conversation as it was quoted did not take place. In future stories about this race we will make better efforts to fact check statements made by candidates.