Godwin: Let’s try listening to each other on guns

Gun violence is an incredibly challenging issue because we can’t agree on the nature of the problem, never mind the solution.

It is often reported that guns kill 33,000 Americans each year, but there’s more to the story. More than 60 percent of all gun deaths are suicide. Gun homicides have actually declined sharply over the past two decades, cut nearly in half since the early 1990s.

A more complete understanding of gun deaths allows all sides to turn toward potential solutions and consider each one alongside efficacy, inherent trade-offs and the Constitution.

Our constitutional right to bear arms is a tenet of the American character and history, individual liberty, independence and self-protection. There are also other truths that are self-evident. With the highest rate of gun ownership among developed countries (89 guns per 100 people, double second-place Switzerland), the United States has by far the highest rate of gun murders (four times second-place Switzerland).

Background checks could be deepened by including mental health records, since nearly two-thirds of gun deaths are by suicide, and mental health problems are a major risk factor for suicide. Background checks also could be widened to close the loopholes around gun show and online sales. Loopholes are exceptions, perhaps flaws, in policies that seek to keep guns out of the wrong hands. Major loopholes fatally compromises the policy.

Another proposal flips the most obvious prescription on its head: There is a certain practical logic to the argument that the best way to stop bad guys with guns is to put more guns in the hands of the good guys. Many of us would have liked for a victim in the Aurora theater or at the Christmas party in San Bernardino to eliminate the threats.

When it comes to gun violence and Second Amendment rights, along with all issues that threaten to polarize and cripple necessary discourse, let’s start by getting the facts straight, then identify shared goals and consider potential solutions together, respecting and balancing competing values. And at every step along the way, let’s listen first.

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 4:53 PM.