The Sounds of a long Independence Day weekend. The crisp snap of an American Flag buffeted by a breeze. The crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd at Major and Minor League ballparks. The screech and boom of launching fireworks. Belches of relief in Coney Island, where San Jose’s Joey Chestnut inhaled 76 Nathan's Franks in 10 minutes. The mournful unzipping of 233 body bags, used to transport by one account the number of people killed by guns between Friday night and Monday night on what by design is a festive weekend. More than 500 others were shot and wounded. In Chicago, two police officers were among one hundred gunshot victims in the windy city, 14 of them would die.

Near Atlanta  a country club golf pro was shot and killed as he went to investigate why someone was driving a pickup on the course. The gunmen fled the vehicle where police found two other people shot and killed in the bed of the truck. There were multiple gunshot deaths in Dallas and Vegas and New York, where Governor Cuomo says gun violence is the epidemic replacing the pandemic.

Bad as it sounds….and it does...Independence Weekend 2020 had 26 percent fewer shootings, than the same weekend last year. From a statistical measure, that's progress. By any other measure, it’s still a major problem. Bloody weekends like the one just past and or mass workplace shootings will raise the hue and cry for gun control. But gun control as currently written, enacted and enforced won’t solve the problem. The laws make it harder for a law abiding citizen to buy a weapon legally, make it more expensive to legally bear arms, and to some extent prevents mentally  ill people and convicted felons from legally getting their hands on a pistol, a long gun or even so called “assault” weapons. That might give left leaning lawmakers a nice warm feeling, but it leaves our friends in law enforcement shaking their heads. They know felons don’t try to buy guns legally. Background checks block the process. As for nuts with guns, some acquire them before they’re known to be mentally impaired, others like the Sandy Hook school shooter, grabbed the gun from his mother’s collection.

Gun theft is the real gun problem. Somewhere between 380 and 500 thousand guns are stolen each year from the homes, and vehicles of otherwise law abiding gun owners. Many of which are used in criminal activity.

Paperwork, waiting periods and most other weapon related red tape aggravate legal gun buyers, but are ignored by criminals, just like they ignore a myriad of other laws. And because there is now law compelling gun owners to report a theft, many don’t, compounding the problem.

Seems we do need tougher gun laws. On the people who steal guns, sell them and use them illegally. And maybe legal gun owners need to think twice about leaving them unlocked or visible in a garage or vehicle. We have the right to bear arms, with that right comes the implicit use of good judgement in use and storage of the same.