There are many reasons to be frustrated by the extreme far
right ideology: medieval views on sex,
the uterus and abstinence, a belief that no American—ever, under any
circumstances—should pay taxes, hilarious-if-they-weren’t-so-common-and-terrifying
statements about rape…so many things leave me shaking my head and wondering
where these folks went to school. They
can’t all have gone to the “Alabama School of Jesus and Book Learnin’ ” can
they?
But our nation’s love affair with guns truly confounds
me. Allright, I get that people love their
guns and want to protect their family and possessions against a home
invasion. That is entirely
understandable and it is my understanding that there are many safe gun owners
out there; I know and admire a few of them.
What I don’t understand is the steadfast belief that more and bigger
guns in the hands of anyone and everyone somehow makes our nation “safer”. I know I don’t feel entirely safe walking
around Chicago at night. Or even in the
day, in certain neighborhoods.
What frustrates me most, however, is that anytime a
politician or someone in the media attempts to have an adult conversation about
guns, this person is shouted down by very angry and—let’s face it—clever gun
advocates. The mere mention of gun
control elicits an immediate and vile filled tirade about the “scoring” of political
points in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting or, more colorfully, “socialist
pussy liberals” comin’ to grab the guns.
“It’s too soon to have this conversation,” a gun advocate might say, “The
bodies aren’t cold yet! We’ll have this
conversation at another time!”
When is that time?
When can we have the conversation?
If it’s too soon the day of the tragedy, when is it ok? In a week?
Well, “We’re still in mourning,” they say. What about three weeks? “What?
That shooting is old news. Let it
go already.” In the wake of the mass
shooting at that Portland shopping mall three days ago—victims who had the gall
to sit down and eat at the food court after a day of listening to holiday music
and cheerily Christmas shopping—I vented a bit at my favorite news blog,
Slog. I’m not making this up when I tell
you this; just yesterday, I posted a snarky-but-thoughtful reply to such an
unhinged gun advocate (“It’s too soon!”), never actually considering that this would
contain an important truth:
“Just so I'm clear on the rules: what IS the proper amount
of time that should pass after a mass shooting incident before we have an adult
conversation about guns? And what if, in the immediate aftermath of that time
there's another mass shooting? Do we have to wait for another period of time to
pass or are we grandfathered in from the first shooting?”
Which brings us to today:
27 dead. So far. Mostly children.
Fuck.
This news has made me physically ill. That's not hyperbole...I’ve wanted to throw up since hearing of the
story. Maybe it’s because I have 9 nieces
and nephews in various levels of school.
Maybe it’s because unlike Columbine, Virginia Tech, NIU, etc, these were
little kids…the school was K-4th. Maybe it’s because it hits home; I was a wee
lad in school when Laurie Dann went on her little spree up in Winetka in 1988.
Or maybe because this type of event is so damn common these
days.
One doesn’t want to jump to too many conclusions here. We know very little about the circumstances thus far; all we know is that 20 or so kids won’t be around to open their presents
on Christmas day.
What we do know is that the NRA will issue a statement
filled with sympathy for the victims and condoning the action of the shooter. Someone will suggest things would have been different
if the teachers at the school were armed, as if bringing more guns onto school
grounds is a sensible idea. Many
crackpots will say that a day like today is the price America pays for freedom.
And this scene will replay itself in 100 days or 30 days or—god
help us—2 days when this happens again.
Because if there is one thing we all know, another mass shooting is not
an “if”, it’s a “when”.
**********
I’ve always said that if you want to defend your home, buy a
shotgun. You don’t necessarily have to
aim a shotgun with pin-point accuracy, it’s intimidating as all get-out and if
you buy a pump action shotgun, the mere sound of the pumping itself gets your
point across to an intruder pretty damn quickly. You never, ever read about a 3 year old
accidentally picking up a shotgun and killing him/herself or a sibling. It just doesn’t happen.
What you do hear about all the time is a lone gunman taking
a handgun to his ex-wife’s place of work, concealing it until the perfect
moment—very difficult to do with a shotgun, by the way—and killing his ex, her
gay BFF, two patrons of the establishment and then himself. You constantly hear about a child picking up
a handgun and playing with it, knowingly or unknowingly, and killing his/her
parent, sibling or themselves. And what
kind of gun is typically used in Chicago gang violence? Why handguns, of course!
The only purpose of a handgun is killing someone quickly
and efficiently, with as little damage to the upholstery as possible. This is true whether you’re defending your
home, dealing smack or standing your ground against a group of black teens who
happen to be playing their music a little too loud for your liking in a 7-11
parking lot. The handgun is the only
instrument of death embraced by our culture.
Why on earth is that? Why is this
ok with people?
Gun advocates like to quote statistics about the lethality
of cars. While it is true that you are
far more likely to die in a car accident than by some dude who flunked out of
college and takes out his anger on a movie-theatre full of people, cars do have
other uses than killing people. Honest
to god, it’s true. Cars are sometimes
used to get people from location A to location B. Many times, these drivers make it to their
destination without killing a room full of kids and teachers.
Again: the purpose of a gun is death.
And don’t even get me started on assault rifles. No one—NO ONE—that is not in the military or
on a police force should have access to an assault rifle. Seriously, the Queen of England is not about
to kick down your door and force her way in to your house…you don’t need a gun
that is capable of killing the entire staff of Buckingham Palace in 30 seconds
or less.
**********
Sigh. So what’s to be
done? Many things really, most of which
will anger the tea party. Greater access
to mental health facilities and doctors would be a great start. These unhinged folks need a place to vent and
heal without ending their lives and those of a few worshipers who were joyously
making dinner at their Sikh temple. I
would like to see an out-right ban (and subsequent government buy-back program)
of any high-magazine gun, be it a hand gun or assault rifle. National—and comprehensive—back-ground checks
are needed and instead of just closing the gun show loophole, since we’re no
longer selling assault rifles, I would end gun shows themselves. If a gun is used in a crime, be it murder or
liquor store robbery, I would give a jail sentence not only to the perp, but
also to the owner of the gun. If that
means grandpa goes to jail because he didn’t secure his gun properly and his
meth-head grandson stole the firearm, so be it.
No sweat off my sack.
Can we ban guns? Not
bloody likely. Should we? Probably not.
Like I said, responsible gun owners do exist. You know what I’d do? While we may not be able to ban guns, I think
it would be a spectacular idea to tax the shit out of bullets. Kind of like the cigarette tax but for death.
This isn’t a new idea; making
bullets prohibitively expensive has been spouted out before and will be spouted
out again. In my opinion, people should
only be able to buy, say, 10 bullets per, I dunno, 3 months. I would tweak this plan, however: when people buy guns they (theoretically) have
to register for said gun. Under my plan,
people purchasing bullets will also have to register. This way, big brother can keep track of any
yahoo trying to go from store to store purchasing enough bullets to really do
some damage at his ex-wife’s salon. I
think it’s appalling that in this day and age someone can go and buy a few
thousand bullets without raising any significant eyebrows.
**********
Now, I don’t think that any of these ideas will gain any
traction. Maybe, however, today’s school
shooting was the tipping point. Something has to be done now, right? 27 dead—again,
including many, many children--in the 2nd worst mass shooting in US
history?
What we can’t do is just fall back on the old “If we ban
guns the only people who have guns will be criminals” type of thinking. Again, guns are not going anywhere. But we can’t just sit idly by and wait for
the next attack.
I think what is readily apparent is that there is no single,
problem solving solution. Of course
nothing will stop a truly determined guy who absolutely has to kill his former
boss at the foot of the Empire State building.
Think about this, though: according
to former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt, there are 20 mass shootings per year in
the US, on average. Look at this list from the last calendar year
alone:
December 14, 2012: At least 27 dead, approximately 18 of whom were children in Connecticut Elementary school.
December 11, 2012: One injured, two killed at a mall by gunman in Clackamas, OR.
December 8, 2012: Four killed and two injured on the Tule Indian Reservation including the shooter's three children only one of whom survived the initial attack.
September 28, 2012: Five killed by a recently fired employee in Minneapolis, MN.
August 24, 2012: Two killed, 9 wounded in 'Empire State Building' shooting.
August 5, 2012: Seven killed in Sikh temple shooting in Oak Creek, WI.
July 20, 2012: Twenty killed and 58 wounded in Aurora, CO.
April 3, 2012: Ten shot, seven killed in Oakland's Oikos University.
March 31, 2012: Two killed and 12 injured in shooting outside Miami funeral home.
March 2, 2012: Fourteen injured in mass shooting at concert in Tempe, AZ.
February 27, 2012: Five shot, three dead in a Chardon, OH school.
February 21, 2012: Four killed in Korean Spa shooting in Atlanta, GA.
December 25, 2011: Seven killed in Grapevine, TX on Christmas Day.
December 1, 2011: Four killed in Bay City, TX mass shooting.
This is not ok. This
is not the price of “freedom”. As far as
I’m concerned, the NRA can go to hell. And quickly, too, if their 3 year-olds accidentally shoot them.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to call my congressman.
