Experts Discuss Solutions To Mass Shootings
DALLAS (CBS11) - While they are no less tragic, the rate and magnitude of each mass shooting in American is becoming constant.
"Thirty years ago, we never saw anything like this," said Alan Solis, a former police officer and detective.
Solis spent three decades with the Dallas Police Department.
"For this to stop, we're going to need the common person's help," said Solis.
He said when someone notices odd or threatening behavior, they need to tell someone.
"Police can't be everywhere all the time," said Solis.
He feels a ban is needed on large capacity magazines or the ability to modify rifles for rapid fire.
"No legal citizen and no honest good person needs that kind of ammunition at their disposal," said Solis.
But one professor at SMU's School of Law feels the solution is not in creating new laws, but in enforcing the ones that are already on the books.
"The man who shot up this church yesterday should not have been able to have any guns," said Natalie Nanasi, the director of the Judge Elmo B. Hunter Legal Center for Victims of Crimes Against Women. "There are gaps in the system that mean people like him are getting guns and we need to close those gaps."
Nanasi said while she think strong laws would help the situation, she does not believe it is the immediate answer.
"I want to be realistic," said Nanasi. "I recognize sweeping gun control is probably unlikely either on the federal or state level here in Texas."
Nanasi said at the core of the issue, there is often a lack of coordination.
In the case of Sutherland Springs, the U.S. Air Force did not forward the paperwork to the FBI that would have flagged him in the system as a prohibited firearms purchaser.
"You see these sorts of gaps at every level," said Nanasi. "Every branch of the law enforcement community needs to be speaking to the next one."
