To the editor:

We just witnessed another senseless mass shooting that took the lives of four children and two adults, and injured a child. The shooting in the suburbs of Houston illustrates how our federal gun laws — already deemed too restrictive and not worthy of upholding by the Kansas governor and Legislature — are insufficient when it comes to domestic abusers and how easily they can still get their hands on guns. Ron Lee Haskell, the accused shooter, is a domestic abuser who previously had been arrested for assaulting his wife.

Common sense solutions to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and other dangerous people are already sitting on desks in Congress. These include legislation to close dangerous loopholes in domestic violence laws and expand Brady background checks to online and gun show sales. To Gov. Brownback and many of our legislators, these solutions represent “gun grabbing.” How ludicrous. What a sad state of affairs it is when our state leaders resort to arguments used by segregationists to exempt themselves from federal regulations which with they disagree.

While we see gun violence all too often in this country, we cannot afford to become numb. We must take action and demand change — especially when it comes to dangerous people being able to obtain firearms and do harm. We must call on Congress to pass this legislation because it will help save lives and protect women and children. We can and should do better.