Campus massacre - Urgent need to implement gun laws

HEATED debate over gun control in the US has been rekindled by the massacre of university students in the state of Virginia.

Inevitably, the worst shooting orgy of its kind has raised questions about gun controls in Ireland. And the results of today’s Irish Examiner survey are far from encouraging.

Senior gardaí are right to be worried about the marked increase in applications for handguns. Due to anomalies in existing legislation, superintendents who have the power to refuse gun applications, find themselves on uncertain grounds.

There is urgent need to implement measures on gun ownership in the Criminal Justice Act of 2005. That they have not been enacted at this stage is appalling.

The question preoccupying Americans is why shootings at educational institutions are so commonplace? So far this year there have been five campus shootings. Yet, neither Republicans nor Democrats are willing to grasp this political nettle.

Of one thing we can be sure — more young people will be slaughtered because of the deep-seated violence pervading American society where the gun is king.