Dear Editor,

The tragedy of gun deaths continues to overtake us. Nineteen schoolchildren and two teachers died in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, killed in their classroom by an 18-year-old who had bought two AR-15 assault weapons and ammunition just days before, adding to the unbelievable list of massacres across America. 

Republican leaders are wringing their hands and wonder what to do, while constituents and Democrats are pleading for them to come together and pass needed legislation to curb mass shootings that would expand background checks and keep guns out of the hands of those who should not be able to buy them, among other important safeguards.

The many, many billions already spent nationally on school security has not stopped massacres, but Republicans still push this idea and refuse to consider legislation to curb sales of guns, expand background checks, and crack down on the free-flow of guns. 

Sadly, a gun tragedy also visited my home last November. My wife, who lived in serious chronic pain for more than 30 years and major depression for 20 years, despite many treatments, walked into a local gun store last November 12, bought a handgun, and walked out in 15 minutes because Georgia has no waiting period for buying guns. We had never owned a gun, and she had never fired a gun, but in a few minutes she became an instant gun owner. 

She hid it from me, and the next morning I went for a walk, and when I returned less than an hour later, I found her dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. I can’t describe how this scene affected me after almost 50 years of marriage. 

We all know this unrestrained sale of guns across much of our country, resulting in such horror, is not what our Founders meant nor could envision when they penned the Second Amendment. Georgia’s legislators and governor could establish a waiting period for gun sales, but have refused. I sent a message more than a week ago to the five state legislators whose districts touch on Thomas County and asked them to support a waiting period but no one has yet replied to me, and probably won’t. 

Grant Plymel 

Thomasville