I don’t want to talk about what happened in Connecticut
today. You probably already know all about that. If you don’t, google Newton
Shooting. To briefly sum up, on the morning of Friday Dec. 14, 2012 at a
Connecticut elementary school a mentally deranged man murdered 27 people
including 18 children with a pair of handguns. This is merely the latest in a
long history of random gun violence in America. It seems worse than the
shooting at an Oregon mall just earlier this week, or that one at a spa in
Wisconsin last October, or the one in a crowded movie theater in Colorado last
spring. It seems worse primarily because of the number children killed today. Don’t
think I am callous. I say ‘seems’ because I don’t know all the facts and
because really any loss of life through violence is tragic and it’s
horrendously difficult to rank tragedy in any coherent list. So, this one seems
worse.
Every person on the internet has an opinion about this
event. Some believe we need stricter gun control legislation. Some say we have
plenty of laws, we just need to enforce them better.[i]
Many people are calling for action from the mental health care community. Still
others think the best way to solve this problem is to arm the citizenry. I wish
to address each of these concerns in this piece, but before I wish to say
something to the ‘too soon’ crowd.
Among every single one of the aforementioned camps people
are saying, ‘It’s too soon to do anything more than mourn and comfort each
other.’ I couldn’t disagree with this sentiment more. Phil Plait, aka the Bad
Astronomer, wrote a beautiful, elegant piece on this earlier today. Click the
link to read his thoughts.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2012/12/14/connecticut_shootings_gun_control_mental_health_and_our_responsibility_to.html
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2012/12/14/connecticut_shootings_gun_control_mental_health_and_our_responsibility_to.html
I wish to try, in my own way, to point out the flaw in this sentiment of “too soon.” Of course the obvious answer to this, “If not now, when?” This is not the first, nor I might point out the worst, mass shooting to happen in the U.S. in recent history. “What has changed?” is the mantra of many who wish something could be done about this. My personal response to the too soon crowd is simply, ‘It is not too soon. It is too late.’ Dr. Plait phrased it perfectly,
“this topic is actively avoided, as if so soon after such an event is not the right time to discuss this. But it’s precisely the right time to discuss this. If not now, when? In the coming days, as the immediacy of today fades a bit, this will still not be discussed by politicians. Now, is the right time, now, when this is on everyone’s minds. It is out of respect for the victims that we must discuss this, not keep silent.”
I will return to this later, but for now let’s move on to
possible solutions.
The first solution you will hear today is we need stricter
gun control legislation. This seems the most reasonable solution to me
personally. Statistics show that countries with stricter gun control have less
mass shootings. Of the 20 deadliest mass shootings in the world for the last 50
years, 11 were in the United States. The US typically has much higher gun
violence rates than any other country in the developed world, and this needs to
stop.
Opponents of gun control laws often say, ‘People are violent
and if you remove their guns they will just find another way to hurt people.’
Many of these people point to the horrific stabbing which happened at a school
in China today, which you can read about here:
These people have a point. Incidents of violence don’t necessarily decrease simply because there are no guns. However, I’d like to point out that not one person was killed in the stabbing in China today. Furthermore, according to the article, in 2010 mass stabbings resulted in killing almost 20 schoolchildren. Today we matched that number in one incident.
Another common argument is that enacting stricter gun laws
will disarm law-abiding citizens while criminals will simply purchase guns
illegally and run rampant. I am not qualified to completely address this
concern, but I will say that a lengthy study recently found that over three
quarters of mass shooters in the US since 1981 obtained their weapons legally.
So yes, it is possible that crime will run rampant in the streets if we disarm
the public, but mass shootings are likely to go waaayyyy down. I’ll take my
chances.
To conclude this chapter of the blog, gun violence in the US
could very well be due to other factors, but for me there is a clear
correlation, if not direct causation, and enacting stricter gun control
legislation seems the logical first step to try.
This brings us to another common argument you’ll hear today
from both pro-gun and pro-gun control people. The argument goes, ‘Most people
who commit these atrocities are mentally disturbed. Taking away guns only
treats the symptoms while the disease rages on. The shooters are victims too.’
None of this is wrong. However, I will point out that treating symptoms is
often an effective way to treat a disease. At the very least taking guns away
from violently insane people could keep them from doing anything too terrible
until they can get proper treatment. Again, this argument is completely valid.
Studies show that almost or possibly all mass shooters had some sort of mental
illness which was not being treated properly. I don’t have much more to say on
this subject. We as a society should be helping mentally ill people get treated
and not ignoring warning signs. If you know somebody with a mental illness,
please encourage them to get professional help, and do whatever you can to help
them.
Finally, one thing you won’t hear a lot today is that if the
children had their own weapons they could have defended themselves. However, in
many of these cases you hear exactly that regarding the victims, and a form of
this is sure to pop up on almost everybody’s Facebook newsfeed today. This
might work. I don’t know. I don’t think it will, but I don’t know. In my
opinion, if everyone went around armed it would create an environment much like
the old west. Arguments would be settled with death, and any small sign of
hostility would probably be met with violence because if everyone has a gun you’re
better off shooting first. I think this is a terrible idea, but I can only give
reason, not evidence.
At last I wish to bring up a personal concern I had about
writing this entry. I’ve been vocal about gun violence before, but always shortly
after a terrible tragedy. I don’t personally know anybody who is different.
When tragedy strikes, I want to air my frustration, anger and despair. Just
like everyone else. Everyone on Facebook is saying something about this today.
Every news site is covering it. Everyone with a Twitter account is shooting out
opinions in 140 characters or less. The net is saturated with voices. What do I
have to say that others aren’t already saying? Nothing. What does one more
voice mean? Well, it means we’re doing the right thing before it’s too soon/too
late for another dozen children and families. I don’t want to be just another
voice in the sea of anger and frustration, but dammit! that’s what we need. Now
is the time to discuss this, and I cannot be the person who stands back because
everyone else is discussing this already. My voice is important, and yours is
too. If you have the means, let your voice be heard. I don’t care what you have
to say, but say it. And please don’t
dismiss anyone else who is saying something, no matter how absurd it seems to
you. If you are for gun control, but your Facebook acquaintance avidly
believes this is the direct result of removing public prayer from schools,
congratulations I agree with you. But he/she has a mind and a heart and an
opinion too. Don’t discard it. Hear it. Think about it. Talk about it. Come to
a conclusion, and at the end try it. Doing anything is better than doing
nothing. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t. It doesn’t matter. What matters is
that we try because through trying we will succeed in the end.
You can write your congressional representatives here:
And the White House here:
Please do it.
Also, if you agree with me about the gun control thing, you
can donate to a good cause here:
Other articles you
may be interested in:
[i] Many people believe our gun
legislation is just fine, but needs to be better supervised and enforced. I am
not aware of all current US gun legislation, so for all I know this may be
completely true. Therefore, I will lump them in with the overall gun control
crowd, as the solution is still dealing with guns through legal control of
their sale.
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