Securing weapons can lower our community murder rate

Some difficult memories popped up after walking from Saint Michael’s Catholic Church in San Antonio last Saturday to the Alamodome to help pin an “Otra Vida Robada “T-shirt on a clothesline with my wife Jacquelyn Scherer.

One involved my friend, Jess, a fellow Air Force noncom. As the chief of community relations at Lowry AFB, Colorado for more than six years, Jess and I worked together for several of them, coordinating the famed “blue gooses” bus in the base motor pool under his leadership.

I had many educator tours where educators were invited by their Air Force recruiter to visit our technical training center.

I also had a newcomers’ tour every week to help military professionals orient themselves to Denver and Aurora,.

Regardless of the tour, Jess’ team transported my visitors without a glitch.

Jess and I saw a lot of each other before tragedy hit when one of his sons killed another one of his brothers with a handgun that he found in his father’s bedroom drawer.

Another Stolen Life.

Before marching from Saint Michaels to the Alamodome, organizers for “Otra Vida Robada” shared how 2800 people were killed in the last five years by unsecured guns in Bexar County; I thought of my friend and his wife.

He had just married one of my friends, a fellow Air Force professional.

To my friends who own guns, my participation in Saturday’s event was not an affront to your 2nd Amendment rights.

San Antonio City Councilman John Courage, my local councilman, wants gun owners to secure their weapons so tragedies like the one with Jess don’t happen again.

Please consider these simple thoughts.

If you collect guns, how do you secure them? Many guns involved in the nearly three thousand Bexar County deaths were stolen from cars.

If you have children, how do you teach them how to understand how to transport a weapon for target practice or hunting safely?