Hardly a week goes by that I don’t read about another tragic shooting. Often the perpetrators target family, love interests, co-workers or gang rivals. Some killers are racially or religiously motivated, and some are simply random attacks. It is especially demented when children are targeted by these shooters.

Why are Americans so prone to violence, one asks? There seems to be no single answer, though untreated mental health problems and easy access to guns are certainly major factors. As a society, we need to be more proactive in developing solutions to the problem of gun violence in America. Praying certainly hasn’t helped. Ironically, mass shootings have been good for both firearm and teddy bear manufacturers.

I grew up in a small Central Oregon town much like Enterprise. In the 1960s, like many 12-year-olds in the community, I attended a Hunters Safety Course presented by the National Rifle Association. At that time the NRA was focused on firearm safety and was a well-regarded and valued organization. In the 1920s and 1930s, concerned with gang violence, the NRA supported national gun control policies such as gun permits, waiting periods and registries for certain firearms. After their convention in 1977, the NRA shifted its mission to become a lobby for the firearm industry, with devastating results for American society. The NRA began funneling enormous amounts of money to a political party in a successful effort to block gun regulations, tracking of firearms and protect the firearms industry from lawsuits not afforded other businesses. Taking a cue from George H.W. Bush, I quit my NRA membership.

As a gun owner, I am willing to sacrifice some of my so called “freedoms” for the good of the nation and I suspect many responsible gun owners would do likewise. Background checks? Sure, check me. Register my guns? No problem. Felony, or violent misdemeanor conviction? You bet, take my guns. Stalker or domestic abuser? Please, take my guns. Red flag laws — absolutely. Military-style assault weapons? Don’t need them. High-capacity magazines? Don’t need them. Bump stocks? Don’t need them. Sometimes we must make personal sacrifices for the good of the whole. This is one of those times. There were certain responsibilities that I accepted when I received my license to drive. I expect no less in owning firearms.

Yes, I have read the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and don’t see any conflict between the amendment and reasonable gun control. “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Well, we have a well-regulated Militia in the National Guard. When the Second Amendment recognizes the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, it doesn’t say “all Arms” or “all types of Arms.” Of course, when ratified in 1791, America was a much different country than it is today, as were the weapons (muskets? swords?).

A final point I would like to make on the subject of mass shootings; though not an advocate of censorship, I wish the media would agree to refrain from publishing the names, bios and grievances of mass killers. Fame and notoriety is what some of these shooters seek. Rather than give them attention and publicity, they should be portrayed as the weak cowards they are, and should remain in obscurity.