Eric Liu writes on CNN.com:
Gun responsibility isn’t gun control. It isn’t about “controlling” people or banning ownership of guns or confiscating weapons. But neither is it about treating the gun issue as if it were only a matter of rights — as if everything else, from the safety of our children to the lethality of everyday crime to the reduction of gun suicides or accidents, were irrelevant.
A gun responsibility agenda respects the Second Amendment right to bear arms. It also demands that the right be exercised with the level of responsibility that a functioning society applies to any public health or safety issue.[…]
At the same time, gun responsibility means accepting — indeed, championing — reasonable rules and standards for the ownership and use of firearms. Criminal background checks prior to gun purchases, to take one obvious example, should be completely noncontroversial. That’s the bare minimum responsibility requires.
[…]
That’s why in my home state of Washington I joined a group of citizens to create a grass-roots organization called the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility. We’re supporting a background checks ballot initiative, but we’re also working with faith leaders and parents and others to change the attitude on a deeper level.
[…]
America can’t afford to act out anymore. We have a problem to solve, which is tens of thousands of gun deaths a year. A good way to honor the children of Sandy Hook Elementary school is to thank gun owners who behave like adults, to support policies that encourage greater gun responsibility — and to remember that this is how we fulfill our Second Amendment duties.