Tonight as I sit at home sick, I was lucky enough to get a phone call giving me the opportunity to listen in on a town hall for Omaha Republican Mayoral Candidate Dave Nabity. I was so excited as I had never been on a political conference call before. At first, I was really impressed. He is well spoken, seemingly reasonable, very personable (something the previous republican Presidential candidate lacked), and very knowledgeable about the city. He spoke plainly about issues facing the city such as the sewer and roads, the restaurant tax, and the horrible crime problem.
As a progressive Democrat, I was actually surprised how well I was following his ideals. I was actually halfway to committing to vote for Mr. Nabity. Then, I got to ask a question. My question was while Community Policing, jobs programs for at risk kids (that don't include janitorial jobs), and other problem oriented policing (as his website states) are great ideas, did Mr. Nabity have any plans for criminal background checks for guns or for any mental health community outreach? Mr. Nabity stated that I had a great question, but he wasn't really into gun control. He thought it was safer to have an 'armed citizenry' under the conceal and carry law to safeguard against situations like those in Newtown, CT. He then stated that he didn't know enough about the mental health aspect to this question and he would have to do more research.
As a citizen of Omaha, a city which has seen mass shootings in the past, almost daily individual shootings, thefts, and armed robberies, I just don't think it's reasonable to rely on a group of 'armed good guys' out there. I just think it would make more sense to keep guns out of the hands of the 'bad guys' in the first place. But, I guess that's just me. I will be doing some research on the democratic Mayoral candidates. Hopefully they'll be more on my wavelength.
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