It has to stop
by Samuel Warde
The
U.S. has experienced a massive increase in the number of mass shootings the
last 30 years, with a mass shooting defined by the Mass Shooting Tracker as four or more people shot in one
event.
As The Washington
Post reported last July:
The Mass
Shooting Tracker is different from other shooting databases in that it uses a
broader definition of mass shooting. “The old FBI definition of Mass Murder
(not even the most recent one) is four or more people murdered in
one event,” the site’s creators explain. “It is
only logical that a Mass Shooting is four or more people shot in
one event.”
Looking
at 2015, as of October 3 there were 294 mass shootings and there have been 878 people killed by police
officers and we were only 276 days into the
year so far.
The
problem is escalating, and there are clear reasons why an objective
understanding of those reasons will bring us answers.
However, the U.S. population only increased by 20% during that
same period. At this rate, by 2020 there will be a gun for every man, woman and
child – if not sooner.
Additionally,
of grave importance are the recent rollbacks of gun restrictions across the
United States. In the past 4 years alone, the NRA and its political backers
have pushed through 99 laws making guns easier to own and carry in public
across 37 states. At the same time, the NRA has been able to roll back laws
enabling the government to track guns.
Currently,
8 states allow private citizens to take their firearms with them to bars; and
in Missouri, intoxicated individuals are allowed to shoot to kill as long as
they believe they are “acting in self-defense.”
In Louisiana, citizens are
allowed to take guns to church and, most alarming (considering recent events),
Kansas allows ordinary citizens to carry concealed weapons inside K-12 schools.
Earlier this year, the Colorado Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing
individuals to carry concealed weapons on college campuses – making it the
fifth state to allow firearms on campuses.
Currently,
80 percent of our states recognize gun permits from other states – creating
grave concern over lax states like Virginia, where an applicant is only
required to complete a brief course online to obtain a weapons permit. Due to
the ease of obtaining a permit in Virginia, the state is now being flooded with
out-of-state applicants, effectively making their regulations – or lack thereof
– the law of the land in a majority of our country’s states.
Gun
advocates would have us believe that the increase in firearms, coupled with the
decrease in government regulations, should be lowering the number of firearm
deaths and mass shootings. But that is not the case: homicides brought about by
guns have increased in the past 30 years.
Additionally, the number of mass shootings
in the U.S. have actually increased steadily. Not surprisingly, the only dip in
the death rate from firearms was during the now-expired ban on assault rifles.
I’ve
heard gun-toting friends claim, “It’s too bad one of the teachers wasn’t
carrying.” What about that?
A
recent study found one striking pattern in the data: “In not a single case was
the killing stopped by a civilian using a gun. […] And in recent rampages in
which armed civilians attempted to intervene, they not only failed to stop the shooter
but also were gravely wounded or killed”. SOURCE
The
report goes on to note:
“Armed civilians attempting to intervene are actually more likely to increase the bloodshed, says [Dr. Stephen] Hargarten [a leading expert on gun violence and emergency medicine], ‘given that civilian shooters are less likely to hit their targets than police in these circumstances.’ A chaotic scene in August at the Empire State Building put this starkly into perspective when New York City police officers confronting a gunman wounded nine innocent bystanders.” SOURCE
So
the problems are clear – and the solutions rather obvious.
Mass
shootings and deaths by firearms are not unique to the United States. However,
what is unique is our inability to work towards any meaningful solutions.
On
September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attack on the World
Trade Center, and the United States embarked on an ongoing global “War on
Terrorism,” resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Yet more
than 10,000 people are being killed annually by firearms at home – but we are
not allowed to even discuss solutions.
When
automobiles, toys or other manufactured goods are deemed unsafe they are
recalled and new laws and regulations are put into place. When food items,
drugs or medical procedures are deemed the same, there are quick solutions put
into effect.
Yet when tens of thousands of persons are killed by guns over an
incredibly short period of time – with numbers escalating significantly in just
the last few years – we are somehow deemed un-American for daring to ask questions,
for asking for some sort of national dialogue on the matter.
To
me, the problem seems to be a lack of clarity and vision by the gun lobby and
other gun proponents. They consistently see things in terms of black and white.
“The Second Amendment guarantees the right to an assault rifle and armor
piercing bullets.”
Or what about – “Any attempt at gun control undermines
America’s freedom.” Or the ever popular – “You can pry my dead fingers off the
trigger.” Or the “The Second Amendment was enacted so the people could protect
themselves from the ‘Tyranny of Government.'”
Well
what about your “Tyranny of Stupidity” and willful ignorance you are inflicting
on the rest of us who live in the real world?
This
attitude is contrasted by those of us on the other side of the fence who are
interested in discussing solutions and compromise. Most on the left aren’t
interested in outlawing guns or going into people’s homes and taking away their
firearms.
To the contrary, the vast number of Americans — both Democrats and
Republicans — firmly support the Second Amendment. But there is a need for a
meaningful look at laws and regulations in light of the overwhelming evidence
that current legislation is simply not working.
And
don’t be fooled by the claims of the gun lobby that private citizens do not
want meaningful gun-control laws in place. They love to point to polls such as
a recent one conducted by Pew that found only 45% of Americans favor the broad
idea of stricter gun laws. However, polls asking more specific questions
consistently paint a completely different picture.
For
example, take a look at these figures:
- 88 percent want to prohibit those on the terror watch list from buying guns (January 2011 American ViewPoint/Momentum Analysis poll)
- 86 percent believe in further background checks, regardless of where a gun is purchased (January 2011 American ViewPoint/Momentum Analysis poll)
- 69 percent want to limit the number of guns a citizen can buy in a period of time (April 2012 Ipsos/Reuters poll)
- 66 percent want a National Gun Registry (January 2011 American ViewPoint/Momentum Analysis poll)
- 63 percent want a ban on high capacity clips (January 2011 CBS News poll)
