Editorial Board
The Sound of Gunfire Can Be Life-Saving
Congress shouldn't make it easier for criminals to get silencers.
Do you really need this for hunting?
Photograph: Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
“Pop, pop, pop, pop -- it’s a sound I’ll never forget.”
That’s how Representative Mike Bishop of Michigan described the scene in June when a gunman attacked members of Congress practicing for a baseball game in suburban Washington. That sound allowed some people at the scene to take cover -- yet Bishop and his fellow Republicans now seem prepared to pass legislation that would make it harder for anyone similarly threatened to heed the warning.