No guns in the place where resolution is sought

In the space where mediation is held, where mediators act as a facilitator for parties to reach their own agreement, no guns are allowed.

The very first question we ask the parties to a dispute is, are they armed.

It’s pretty obvious that weapons are not conducive to a peaceful resolution of conflict. Unfortunately, we actually had some people show up for mediation. When we asked the question, they asked to be excused while they secured their gun elsewhere (usually to be locked in their vehicle) before they returned to mediation.

As a former Army Infantry officer, former law enforcement officer, former practicing attorney and current gun owner, I know guns and what they can do. They have no place in the place of reaching understanding of parties.

As a former teacher of political science at the college level, I also know the U.S. Constitution quite well. I appreciate our Constitutional rights and the historical connection we Americans have always had with our guns.

I cannot see any reason (in spite of what the NRA might say) for any citizen to have or buy a military type assault weapon. Military weapons belong with the military (and maybe on rare occasions – with law enforcement). Even the semi-automatic pistols carried by police and buyable at any licensed gun-store, carry the potential of firing many rounds of ammo at a time. When I was doing police work, officers were not allowed to carry semi-automatic pistols. We carried .38 cal revolvers such as the “S & W Combat Masterpiece”.

Yes, police have to be armed at least as well as the “bad guys”, but do citizens who are not military or law enforcement need weapons that can cause mass casualties fast.

The recent spate of mass killings has got to be a “call to action”. We cannot tolerate so many people dying or being injured so quickly. Even when Dayton, Ohio police killed the shooter in about one minute, almost 30 people became casualties, 9 of them fatal.

As I write this, El Paso, Texas police are investigating a shooting incident at a Wal-Mart which has become the largest slaughter of civilian Mexicans or Mexican-Americans in history. No matter what the political view of immigration or making “America Great Again” means, there can never be justification for what we read or hear almost daily in the press about mass killing.

We learn in the mediation space that guns will never resolve a dispute. Let’s put this same philosophy into action throughout our wonderful country by “appropriate” weapon legislation. What “appropriate” means is not up to me or the NRA, it is up to enlightened legislators at the federal and state level.

Charles “Chips” Lickson, JD, Ph.D.
Front Royal, Virginia