OPINION: A patriotic name won't hide the danger of 'permitless carry'

Across the country, Americans are reeling from the news of the hateful mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that stole the lives of 10 people and injured three more.

Just days before that tragedy, closer to home in Titusville, a firefighter shot and killed a nurse in her car, then fatally shot himself. Hours later, a young man was shot and killed in a Melbourne gas station. Unfortunately, these tragedies represent only a small fraction of the gun violence plaguing communities across the country every single day.

The horrific toll of gun violence is nothing new — but the statistics are still stunning:

●  Gun violence is the No. 1 cause of death for children and teens in our country.

●  Every day, more than 110 Americans are killed by guns, and more than 200 are shot and wounded.

●  Americans are 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide than people in other high-income countries.

●  A firearm is involved in more than 10,000 hate crimes in America every year.

●  Here in Florida, someone is killed by a gun every three hours.

As a 23-year military veteran, a mother of three and a volunteer with the Florida chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, I know that we don’t have to live like this.

Our volunteers have a singularly focused mission: to end gun violence. We are nonpartisan. Our volunteers are Republicans, Democrats, independents, veterans, and retired law enforcement. We support responsible gun ownership – some of our volunteers are gun owners – and we recognize that with rights come responsibilities. Through common sense legislation and cultural change, our goal is to keep guns out of the hands of people who would do harm to themselves or others.

Over the last four years of volunteering with Moms, I have spoken with too many in our community who have been personally affected by gun violence. In frustration, these survivors and loved ones of victims tell me that they are hopeless and afraid that the country’s gun violence epidemic is unsolvable.

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My response is that it is not hopeless. Even though it seems as though nothing has changed, we are making progress state by state on issues like secure gun storage, extreme risk protection orders (also known as red flag laws), and disarming domestic abusers. And all over the country, community violence intervention programs make headway every day with measures that keep our children safer.

What is not a good method to reduce gun violence in our communities is permitless carry – a policy that some elected officials and lawmakers have threatened to pass in our state that would allow anyone to carry a gun without a permit or a license, a criminal history check, or safety training.

Let's be clear: There is no such thing as “constitutional carry.” That’s a marketing term the gun lobby and beholden politicians use to make permitless carry sound legitimate and less dangerous than it really is.

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Florida’s law-enforcement community is nearly unanimous in its opposition to permissive gun laws, for obvious reasons. An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that permitless carry is dangerous and ill-advised. Nearly 90% believe a permit should be required before carrying a concealed gun in public. Requiring a background check for all gun sales is a measure supported by 97% of gun owners. And 80% of gun owners, non-gun owners, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents agree that high safety standards are critical in issuing concealed carry permits.

Extensive studies and data prove that states that have weakened their handgun permitting systems have seen an increase in firearm crimes – a 13% to 15% increase in violent crime and an 11% increase in handgun homicide rates.

If more guns in more places made us safer, we would be the safest country in the world. We are not. Permitless carry is a dangerous measure that would put more guns into the hands of people who should not have them and only further fuel the gun violence that already ravages our communities.

If you’d like to get involved with the gun violence prevention movement, join Moms Demand Action on June 3, National Gun Violence Awareness Day, and throughout that weekend at Wear Orange events.

Connie Rooke is a volunteer for the Brevard chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Call it what it is — 'permitless carry' — and call it out| Opinion