After two shootings in the past two weeks I am forced to comment on the topic. I have heard multiple times, “Don’t politicize this right now. It’s inappropriate.” If we’re honest with ourselves we would recognize that the issue and incidents are already political. A number of politicians were elected to create policies and laws that influence every aspect of our daily lives; in other cases policies were not enacted or bills drafted thanks to people saying “Don’t politicize this.” Voters and constituents may or may not have been paying attention in order to hold said policy makers accountable. Policies allowed the perpetrator in Aurora, CO to obtain 6,000 rounds of ammo in just a few months, and policies (or lack thereof, thanks in large part to the NRA) made it so that not even an eyebrow was raised over the fact that a 24 year old student who was unexplainably withdrawing from a doctoral program while simultaneously seeking psychiatric treatment was obtaining such weaponry.
When I even begin to breach the topic with people I’ve heard two other objections. Objection 1: People who want to commit violence will do so with or without guns. Objection 2: If our lawmakers outlaw the sale of semi-automatic ‘assault’ weapons, what’s next?
My response to Objection 1: 12 people wouldn’t be dead if the perpetrator had used a baseball bat or his fist. Period. That being said I am not advocating for removal of what we like to believe are our Second Amendment rights or overlooking the fact the Aurora, CO perpetrator also had homemade explosives. The fact that the Second Amendment was intended for something else entirely is for another argument. However, I recognize that as Americans, and more specifically as Montanans, we value our “right” to possess arms. I also recognize that the “bad guys” will get guns even if they’re ‘illegal.’
My response to Objection 2: I initially thought “Why do we need assault rifles in the first place?” And questions as to where we draw the line has made me consider the flaws in my own question. Sort of. I, personally, do not own a single gun, and I doubt I will ever own a semi-automatic ‘assault’ weapon. I can’t imagine ever having the need or desire to fire hundreds of rounds of ammunition in just a few moments. I, however, use many of the same “Where do we draw the line?” arguments when fighting for reproductive choice for women. So, basically, I get where this going.
My thoughts for everyone everywhere: Saying that we can do nothing more to prevent massacres like those in Aurora, CO, Oak Creek, WI, and countless other incidents around the nation is defeatist and heartbreaking. Changing one policy isn’t the answer. It isn’t going to be easy. But I can’t believe we’ve done all we can do when the frequency of incidents such as these is increasing at alarming rate. I challenge you, myself, all of us to have open, honest discussions about possible solutions. I challenge us to hear people out, to open our hearts and minds to prevent things like this from happening. I challenge each of us to challenge ourselves.
Just as we should respect those who are mourning the loss of their loved ones and friends, and the loss of a sense of security in a movie theater or a place of worship, we should also use this time to unite to develop effective policy solutions to real world issues and to help all of us regain trust in our neighbors and work toward a true sense of community.
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ReplyDeleteJust figured I'd throw out my first comment on your blog here about guns since it's such a debated topic and I'm not yet fully committed to either side (I'm generally for guns, but I don't own any yet). You've done a good job here highlighting the debate without actually revealing much about how you personally feel.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I'd like to ask is how you determined that "the frequency of incidents such as these is increasing at alarming rate." Is there easy evidence on that or is that simply anecdotal based on news accounts? I don't actually know if it's true or not but I know that just because I notice more of something in the media doesn't have to mean it's actually occurring more often. I wonder if there is some easy statistic already compiled showing frequency of single-perpetrator massacres year-over-year? And if there's an increase, is it just in the U.S. or is it globally? I'll need more data.
As to gun-control policy and your mention of "where do we draw the line", I think the slope we're generally all talking about here is the potential destructiveness of a given weapon. You brought up the example of a knife and its limited potential of taking down many people in a fixed amount of time, and these are pretty much unregulated. At the other extreme, we have nuclear arms which are very highly regulated. So much so, in fact, that some nations feel they have the privilege to have them while other nations are denied such privilege. I do not think that is right.
Finally, I'd like to touch on your comment that you "can’t imagine ever having the need or desire to fire hundreds of rounds of ammunition in just a few moments." It is perfectly fine for you to feel this way, but take a moment and think about how other people _can_ imagine the need. Think about a certain type of person that brings extreme fear or hatred to mind. It's far too variable a concept to say who the bad guys actually are here, but maybe it's one of the recent killers we're talking about. Maybe it's a white-supremacist. Perhaps it's a communist, or anarchist, or Republican. Maybe a government official. I can't say, the definition is different for different people. But whoever it is, now imagine there is a whole group of them and they are after you and your family. The question I'm leading to is, how much would you personally like to be able to defend yourself?
It is not an impossibility that a whole legion of the "bad guys" would ever come after you or me, and different people have different ideas on how prepared they need to be in their defense. When it comes to weapons policy, you cannot legislate away offense without equally taking away defense. So, unfortunately, I can't say I have the solution to stop massacres yet. I'm not sure they can be stopped, and in fact I know they won't while we continue to have warring nations. All-in-all, we just need to figure out how to get along. I personally shouldn't have to worry about whether my neighbor has a knife, a gun, many assault rifles, or a nuclear bomb. I just want to figure out a way that we could work out our differences without having to use them.
-shawn