He authors best-selling horror novels and he owns guns, three of 'em. And now Stephen King has written an eloquent essay intended to stimulate a national discussion on gun control. It's a "Kindle Single" that sells for only 99 cents, but you need either a Kindle to read it or download the free Kindle "app" from Amazon for your PC or tablet, including Apple's iPAD. It's worth doing.
King's essay, entitled "Guns," asks for universal background checks, including a waiting period and, for those who lie about their past, stiff penalties. The piece is well-written and easy to read, as you might expect from King. No matter what side of the debate you're on, you'll find this narrative interesting and thought-provoking.
How Australia has dealt with this issue is one of the points King makes. That country banned or severely restricted assault-type rifles - in fact, any "automatic" weapon - after a gunman used an AR-15 to kill 33 people and injure 23 more in April, 1996. The Australian government also came up with a gun buyback program that netted 600,000 automatic weapons. After this was done, King mentions that homicides by firearms declined by 60% in Australia.
If you're a Kindle owner - or if you have or set up Kindle capability on your PC or tablet - you can read King's essay for only 99 cents through the Amazon link below:
