GAINESVILLE – Nearly one hundred people participated in a public safety forum Thursday evening at the Gainesville Civic Center organized by Josh McCall, Democratic candidate for the 9th District of the U.S. House of Representatives, a seat currently held by Rep. Doug Collins of Gainesville, a Republican.
McCall said he organized the event because of all the focus and concern centered on gun violence and efforts underway to stop the killing.
“Ninety-something percent of the American population believe that we need to have universal background checks,” McCall explained. “The opposition is very loud, but they’re the minority, and I thought tonight was the chance for the majority of Americans to stand up, and show up, to say, ‘We’ve got to do something about all the deaths taking place.’”
When asked if had encountered support or resistance in his effort to organize the forum McCall credited support from an unexpected source.
“I was very surprised yesterday about the support from President Trump, of all people, who went a little farther than I would go on gun control,” McCall said with enthusiasm.
“He said we should collect the guns first and do due process second, and so I’m not sure I’ve quite caught up to him on gun control,” McCall said with a grin.
Joining McCall as speakers were:
-
Rev. Frank Colladay, Pastor Emeritus of Dahlonega Presbyterian Church.Colladay works with Lumpkin Youth Leadership and has taught classes on bullying at UNG.
-
Rev. Sam Buice, Rector at Calvary Episcopal Church in Clarkesville.Buice once served as Youth Director at Grace Episcopal in Gainesville.
-
Dr. Matthew Boedy, professor at UNG Gainesville.Dr. Boedy said he has been active as opposition in the campus carry debate.
-
Dr. Tanya Bennett, professor and Dean of Honors at UNG Gainesville.
McCall, who grew up in Martin, Georgia, and now is a teacher at Riverside Military Academy, said he supports the Second Amendment but thinks that 225 years after its writing it might need some fine tuning, just as happened to the First Amendment.
When asked about the warning signs pointing at Nikolas Cruz, the gunman in the shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where Cruz wrote that he “wanted to be a professional school shooter when he grew up”, McCall said such statements should cause the writer or speaker to loose Second Amendment protection.
“When you make a statement like that you lose your rights to the Second Amendment, just as if I were to yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater, I then cross over the line with my First Amendment rights.”
McCall said nothing can be done for the victims of the recent mass-shooting incidents, “But the next victims are still alive. They still have plans to go to college, to fall in love, to have children. We can do something for the next victims.”
The few questions lifted by the audience showed that there is a wide difference in opinion on what needs to be done and that, at times, there may be little common ground.
Many in the audience identified themselves as very liberal, a smaller number said they were moderates, and only a handful claimed to be conservative. As McCall advocates, "You may disagree but this is what democracy looks like."
To learn more about McCall’s positions and proposals on gun regulation click here.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2018/3/642441/gun-control-discussion-shows-wide-variety-of-opinions