Commentary: The need for a cool-down in the gun rights debate

Individuals cherish the right to possess guns for many reasons. As exemplified in my early years in a small Wyoming community, recreational use was paramount – hunting and target shooting. Guns were owned as a matter of course, people enjoyed them and the community at large did not feel threatened by them.Use by criminals, injuries and death from tragic accidents and suicides, although shocking and tragic, were dealt with tangentially as social problems resulting from careless or abusive u