Whether you label Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy’s NICS Improvement Act (HB 2640), approved by the U.S. House of Representatives last week, as “gun control” or “criminal control,” or just a way to “improve the reporting by states to the NICS systemâ€� (to quote Wayne LaPierre of the NRA), most of our leaders, police, and neighbors agree that we need to do a better job in preventing dangerous people from obtaining firearms.

The excuse that “criminals don’t follow the law” is a syllogistic excuse for inaction. Preventing a large percent of dangerous people from getting guns is a worthy goal, even if we concede that no law will ever be 100% effective. More and more people seem willing to embark on “first steps” toward effective laws to prevent gun violence, rather than sitting around waiting for the one perfect law to be devised.

In the last few days, many newspaper editorial boards have expressed this view. Some noteworthy editorials:

• Battle Creek Enquirer: States’ data must be part of background-check system
• Morning Call: Gun-rights and gun-control advocates can find common ground in the Senate
• Toledo Blade: The lesson of Virginia Tech
• Orlando Sentinel: Unite in support
• Washington Post: Gun sense
• New York Times: Why protect shady gun dealers?
• Denver Post: Gun reform with NRA blessing
• New York Daily News: NRA shows rare sanity
• Los Angeles Times: Small steps on gun control
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Good aim
  

Now, the U.S. Senate needs to take positive action with this legislation.