Alva Review-Courier -

In the aftermath of recent school shootings, a familiar pattern has played out in the debate over guns.

Gun-control advocates push for tougher laws, including universal background checks to prohibiting the sale and possession of AR-style long guns. The National Rifle Association and many Republican leaders insist the root of the problem is not guns but a range of issues such as mental health, school security, video games and excessive prescriptions of attention-deficit disorder drugs such as Ritalin.

Gun-control advocates call the strategy a clever smoke screen to avoid having to talk about gu...