I agree, Jeri. Background checks and an assault weapons ban are a good first step. But Trump is packing the courts with conservative judges, and I don't think that bodes well for anti-gun laws.

I think that an assault weapons ban could do some good. Even though lots of people already have assault weapons, I get the feeling that the ones used by mass killers are often recently-purchased. I don't think we could pull off a gun ban like they did in Australia - too many Americans would refuse to give up their guns, and and some would get militant to protect their "rights." We live in a gun culture, and culture does not change easily.

I'm not sure what happened to CCW (carrying concealed weapons) permits. It used to be that a person had to have a good reason for getting such a permit - and that more-or-less prevented most people from carrying pistols on the street. Now it seems that anyone can get a CCW permit here in California, and I have the feeling the streets are full of armed vigilantes - although I rarely see evidence that someone is "packing."

And no, it does not make me feel safer to know that gun-toting, "law-abiding" citizens are all around me. I'v lived "out in the sticks" for 16 years now, and I hear gunshots on a regular basis. Occasionally when I'm hiking, it feels like the bullets are a little too close.

-Joe-