When the sun rose on Sunday morning at least 29 families across the nation were dealing with the fact that a loved one will never be coming home again. My thoughts are with these families, and I continue to pray for them and their fallen loved ones. I continue to ask myself why do we refuse to do more than just offer “thoughts and prayers.”

This is what I would offer to prevent more unnecessary deaths.

• increase funding and access to mental health

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• allow doctors to inform patients of possible dangers in gun ownership

• a full criminal and psychological background check on all gun purchases

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• a 48-hour waiting period on all gun purchases

• five-year mandatory renewal of firearm licenses

• national red flag bill.

This is one of the only issues in America where we choose to do nothing “because you can’t stop bad people.” It’s beyond time we do something. 

To paraphrase JFK, we choose to stop these events in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

Colin Wilhelm

Glenwood Springs