Gun-control lessons from the South

"I cannot fathom what would cause someone to do this to another human being and especially at that age," Greenville County, South Carolina, Sheriff Hobart Lewis (a Republican) said of the 12-year-old who brought a gun to school and murdered a classmate.

Here are a few clues for that sheriff who is clueless about what could cause a child to shoot and kill another child:

On March 18, 2022, the state's department of corrections announced it is prepared "to carry out an execution by firing squad as required by (state) law."

Local Congressman William Timmons (a Republican) voted no to the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (a Republican) brags of owning an AR-15 to defend his home from "gangs." A 3-year-old in Tennessee died last Sunday after shooting himself with an AR-15.

In 2021 South Carolina state legislators approved a bill allowing open carry of handguns.

A 2022 priority for the National Rifle Association is to see that South Carolina House Bill 3096, a "constitutional carry law," is passed.

The NRA endorses Timmons and Graham. If it takes a village to raise a child, the children of South Carolina are facing a bleak future of trauma and heartbreak due to gun violence.

Jane Cox

Wheaton