In a previous article I discussed the tragic deaths of tens of thousands of Americans due to the opioid crisis in America.  Sadly we all know families who have lost children and the carnage only increases on a daily basis.
 
Add to this tragic American story, it’s almost daily that murders occur across in America with the spate of shootings whether they be in Chicago among gangs, Las Vegas among concert goers, in churches or in the schools and streets of California, the drumbeat continues.   
 
And what is the response of our nation’s leaders and many of our so-called journalists who populate the media?  It unfortunately repeats the mantra:  It is not guns that kill; it is people. While Congress debates how to redistribute taxes, no effort has been made to even deal with the availability of the machine guns used in Vegas.
 
There is no denying that somebody has to pull the trigger.  But there is also no denying that if guns were not omnipresent, there would be fewer dead Americans.   
 
I’ve read a great deal regarding the 2nd Amendment and the reason for its existence; the Bill of Rights written by James Madison included the 2nd Amendment primarily because the states feared a standing Army similar to what they experienced under the British.  They preferred state militias.   
 
Repeatedly the courts have continued to interpret the “Right to Bear Arms” as an inalienable right as they interpret an amendment that is very vaguely written and obviously open to different interpretations.
 
Irrespective, in the 1780’s and 90’s, we had just come through a war in which guns were necessary to fight the British.  That is a far cry from what guns are used for today in America.
 
Single-shot muskets vs. assault rifles or even worse as we experienced in Las Vegas.   
 
A militia, no; but rather a license to own and sadly too often using a gun to kill.
 
In a mature society populated by rational individuals perhaps good gun ownership would not be an issue but unfortunately as we realize, there are many irrational and/or evil people who populate this earth.  Whether it be members for ISIS or Al Qaeda, whether it be deranged individuals, gun owners or gang members, we will never rid ourselves of those who will use violence against the innocent.  
 
The constant defense of guns by those who believe that any impingement of the right to bear arms, even assault weapons, is a slippery slope that will lead the government to take away all our weapons is repeated every time we call for gun control.  I for one know of no one who has ever defended themselves with a gun but I know personally two young people who were killed by weapons in the hands of people who shouldn’t have had them.
 
Most of the guns used in crimes are stolen guns.  Often bought legally in states where gun possession is easier and stolen from those who perhaps had no intention of committing a crime but end up in the hands of criminals nonetheless.   
 
In any event, after a great deal of thought, observation and conviction that this carnage will not stop, we have only one of two choices.  One choice is to accept the fact that the 2nd Amendment is so sacred to the survival of our freedom, that we are willing to accept the collateral damage of the loss of innocent life on a regular basis rather than give up our sacred ability to possess weapons and unfortunately weapons of mass destruction.  The other view that I have come to hold, having only fired a gun while in the military and never having owned or fired a gun since, is that guns are essentially unnecessary in a civilized society.  Those who believe that gun owners will protect us from evil government are delusional.  Those who believe that their guns will protect them from criminals are also delusional for a criminal always has the upper hand.  You can fill my office with those who have defended themselves with guns and fill Yankee Stadium with those who have been murdered by guns.   
 
If I had it in my power, we would have a Constitutional Convention and the 2nd Amendment would be changed and altered to a point where gun ownership would be the exception; that automatic weapons or semiautomatic weapons would be eliminated and made illegal and classified as weapons of mass destruction.
 
Regarding criminal use of guns, I think we need Draconian laws regarding the guns that end up in the hands of criminals and those who use them.  Whatever it would take in Chicago or Baltimore to stop and arrest those who have guns in their possession should be done; no differently than how we carefully screen luggage or ports of entry.  We should do no less with our own population in terms of eliminating guns from the hands of those who would use them nefariously.   
 
We have committed trillions of dollars in our attempt to prevent terrorism in this country.  It’s time we realized that the greatest terrorists lie within our shores and among us.  They are citizens and all too often we have allowed them to become armed.
 
I wonder how the defenders of the 2nd Amendment would change their views if the victims of violence were their children or their wives.  I for one would prefer America unarmed in which I do not have to see daily the death, destruction and mourning that goes on all too often.
 
Yours truly,
Victor M. Sternberg, D.M.D.

Dental Office of:
Victor M. Sternberg, D.M.D., PC
Westchester Center of Periodontal and Implant Excellence
141 North State Road
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510
EMAIL: officesternberg@verizon.net
WEBSITE: www.DrSaveMyTeeth.com
Office: 914-762-1885
Fax: 914-762-1880

I do not know if many of you had a chance to watch "60 Minutes" last week or read the account of the study done by The Washington Post.  This is an old story that I've written about in the past.  The book I read, "Dreamland:  The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones" opened my eyes to the origin of our opioid crisis.  The deaths of young people related to my patients and this week the death of the best friend of an employee's son just continue to remind me of the horror of this affliction.   

As incredibly catastrophic has been the loss of over 200,000 American citizens in the last four years, this debacle could have only happened with the implicit and complicit actions of Big Pharma, the medical profession and unfortunately our congressmen, our senators and our leaders in the White House.   

For those of you who did not read the recent article in The Washington Post, the gentleman who was appointed to be the "Drug Czar" was the sponsor of a bill which passed unanimously in the House and Senate that basically defanged the Drug Enforcement Agency.  Representative Marino from Pennsylvania had been nominated by President Trump to be the "Drug Czar".  His nomination was withdrawn 60 minutes after it aired.

The fact that this bill passed unanimously in both Houses and was signed by President Obama is shocking.  Don't our representatives do their job or do they just rubber stamp out what will not hurt them at the ballot box?  Claire McCaskill claims she wasn't even there for the vote and yet the Congressional Record revealed that she had shown up for the vote and voted for a particular issue involving Planned Parenthood but begged off that she had voted on this issue.  The record proved otherwise.

Representative Marino's bill greatly diminished the ability of the DEA to go after middle-level suppliers of opioids.  Congressman Marino was the recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions made by the drug industry.   

Just an aside, many of you may not know that Medicare cannot negotiate drug prices.  The VA can, Medicaid can but Medicare cannot.  The reason for that is a bill passed in Congress sponsor by a Louisiana senator, the recipient of over a Million dollars in donations from Big Pharma.  When he left Congress, he took a job with Big Pharma paying approximately $2 Million a year.  That bill sponsored by the Louisiana congressman and passed by our Congress and our Senate has helped drive drug prices through the roof since Medicare cannot negotiate by law.

Now, back to the opioid crisis.  Middle-level distributors have been sending millions of drugs to small town pharmacies in which the populations of these towns number in the hundreds if not low thousands.  The delivery of these drugs resulted in them being distributed in pain clinics and other nefarious, often medically-run, establishments in which drug addicts were receiving inordinate supplies of opioids.   

What makes this issue particularly onerous to this writer is that every time there is a gun death, particularly a mass killing, we have the Left pointing to the oversupply of guns particularly automatic weapons and the Right bringing out the Second Amendment as a defense against any attempt to reduce the access to guns in America.  The gun issue is a wonderful issue for politicians because it enables them to receive support from their constituency.  Believe me, if their constituency was either for or against the ready access of guns, they would change their votes.  It is a hot-button issue that's exploited by both parties.  I'm not here to comment on the validity of the positions but to point out that when it came to the opioid issue, which has now killed more than 200,000 people, 66,000 last year alone, we've heard only a whimper out of Congress.  Imagine, we've lost more young men and women in one year than we lost in Vietnam; far more than we lose from gun violence.

Why is there no human cry from Congress?  It's simple, there are no political votes or political points to be won by taking a position on opioids.  Their failure to wake up and deal aggressively with the explosive availability and disastrous effects of the free access of opioids is a condemnation of the powers with which we have entrusted them.  Their position, "If it doesn't keep me in office, then I don't take a stand".

Over 200 years ago as a new nation was emerging, John Adams wrote "I fear for the future of our country for I believe that future politicians will put their own self-interests ahead of those of the people".  Nothing has changed.  Whether you are Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, it seems your Senator, your Congressperson, and your State Assembly person have done little or nothing to stem the catastrophic plague that dominates our nation.  The thought that many of their votes are bought and sold by special interests, in this case Pharma, and their silence is dictated by the fact that there is no political hay to take a position is a terrible condemnation of our nation's politics.   

Our founding fathers made a number of mistakes in the Constitution.  One of them clear to me is not having term limits which drives politicians "to the well of Lobbyists" to get financed so they remain in power.   

Yours truly,
Victor M. Sternberg, D.M.D.

Dental Office of:
Victor M. Sternberg, D.M.D., PC
Westchester Center of Periodontal and Implant Excellence
141 North State Road
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510
EMAIL: officesternberg@verizon.net
WEBSITE: www.DrSaveMyTeeth.com
Office: 914-762-1885
Fax: 914-762-1880