KSL at Night: How do we solve gun violence?

SALT LAKE CITY — In wake of the recent tragic shootings in California, the topic of gun violence has come to the forefront once again, specifically the question of how to solve it?

A shooting in Monterey Park, Calif., over the weekend left 11 people dead, the 72-year-old suspect took his own life as law enforcement personnel were closing in. A shooting in Half Moon Bay, Calif. on Monday night killed seven people.

KSL at Night hosts Taylor Morgan and Maura Carabello discussed the topic Monday night. 

“The conversation about gun violence and mass shootings is not going away anytime soon,” Morgan said. 

“And I think where the conversation becomes interesting,” Carabello said. “Is that when it moves past, just you have the right or not the right to bear arms because when we talk about gun violence, we’re going to have to get a little more complicated America is so unique.”

Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, joined the show to discuss the topic with Morgan and Carabello.

How to solve gun violence

Morgan asked, “Gun violence is prevalent in our country. And do we have to just accept that this is a consequence of the Second Amendment, or what can we do to limit these kinds of incidents?”

“You know, when we talk about MVS, multiple-victim-shootings, we have to understand that is a tiny fragment of the overall homicides and a smaller fragment of the overall firearm deaths in the United States,” Aposhian said. 

Carabello says restrictions have worked in other areas in terms of cutting down on gun violence. She asked, “What laws would you look at?”

“Why don’t we try stopping these plea bargains?” Aphoshian asked. 

Carabello countered “So you want to deal with post-gun incidents?”

“I wanna deal with laws that we already have,” Aphoshian said. “Let’s start utilizing them, without exception. Start demanding that your (District Attorney’s) office stop making excuses for not prosecuting violent offenders.”

 

KSL at Night can be heard on weeknights from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Read more:

• Experts discuss combating gun violence across partisan lines
• Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown pleads for a solution on gun violence

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