If you turned on the news or picked up a paper yesterday afternoon or evening, or checked the news this morning, then once again you saw a horrific event that has played out too often in the U.S. Another school shooting, in Florida. 17 dead, as of this morning.
We talk about American exceptionalism. This is certainly one way in which the US is exceptional, isn’t it. Exceptionally stubborn. Exceptionally blind. Exceptionally wedded to the gun lobby. And firearms that can take out human beings in a matter of seconds continue to be sold, and we continue to see the results. Tragic, sickening, senseless.
Just over five years ago, I wrote in the aftermath of Sandy Hook, here. One of my own children was only recently graduated from high school at the time, and memories of making a school run each day for years and years and years were still fresh.
As parents, our images and memories of our children in those years remain indelible, always. We feel for the parents who are waiting to hear if their children have been victims, or dealing with the worst possible news that any mother or father could receive. And we feel stricken.
Anyone of us could say: “There but for the grace of God go I.”
And it doesn’t end when they get out of school, of course. Because we know that our children, our spouses, our friends, our neighbors — any of us are potential victims anywhere we go. The movie theater. A shopping mall. An open air concert.
Many say that we should offer prayers. Fine. But prayers don’t cut it. We need legislation.
Yes, of course, there are mental health issues that seem to pervade this society. But that doesn’t mean that assault weapons should be available, or that gun shows shouldn’t have background checks, or that any of the aspects of the commonsense legislation that exists in other countries shouldn’t be adopted for the US.
The victims are not just those who are dead, seriously wounded, their families. The victims are all the other students whose trauma will mark them for life. The teachers, the administrators, the custodial staff. And perhaps all of us, so shell-shocked by so many of these tragedies that we grow numb to the insanity of it.
We are roughly six weeks into the new year. There have been five school shootings already that have resulted in death.
I wrote the following back in December 2012. I am heartsick that nothing has changed, except that in the ensuing years, we have too many gun deaths and school shootings to add to the list.
Written in 2012:
I’ve been listening to live reports from NBC, feeling sick to my stomach. If you haven’t heard, the story is still breaking news. Somewhere around 9:40 a.m., a lone gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and shot and killed children. Numbers are still being confirmed, and information continues to change, but current reports say 26 people are dead, and 18 are children, most presumed to be in kindergarten.
And we say again “There’s no way we can predict this.” We toss out “It’s our culture of violence.” We hear “What do we do – put metal detectors in every school? Protect against every psychopath?”
For comparison purposes, the reporter on NBC mentioned that today, in China, an individual with a knife entered a school and stabbed 33.
Is this supposed to make any American feel better?
I haven’t looked to confirm that assertion. I don’t care about that assertion.
I care about the fact that it appears the gunman was dressed in dark garb not dissimilar to the way the Portland, Oregon shooter was dressed. That incident took place in a mall earlier this week. What about similar uniform to the July shooting in Aurora, Colorado? What about our pop culture that glorifies violence – and inures us to its horror?
Addressing the issues of anger in our country? Of mental illness? Of course those are critical, and as reports on this tragedy come in, though details continue to change, the latest news indicates the 24-year old man shot and killed his mother who worked at the school, and targeted her kindergarten class.
Again, reports are continuing to come in and information is subject to change. Apparently the shooter used legal handguns that are widely available.
So what about the guns?
How many times do we have to watch this same scenario play out? How many more tragedies will it take? How many years? When will we do something about the guns? Must I reference this from NationMaster.com‘s crime statistics?
- 9,369 murders by firearms in the U.S., as compared to 269 in Germany and 144 in Canada.
- For context, the population of the US is roughly 312 million, Germany 82 million, and Canada, 34 million.
- We’re near the top of the list, in case you’re wondering. #4 as I read the chart.
According to Michael Moore writing last July on the Huffington Post,
At least 24 Americans every day (8-9,000 a year) are killed by people with guns – and that doesn’t count the ones accidentally killed by guns or who commit suicide with a gun. Count them and you can triple that number to over 25,000.
That means the United States is responsible for over 80 percent of all the gun deaths in the 23 richest countries combined.
“We’ve endured too many of these tragedies over the years,” said President Obama as he addressed the nation just minutes ago. “The majority of those who died today were children. Beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.”
The President paused in his speech, and was noticeably affected.
He continued by saying “we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this,” that we should all extend a hand in need, that we are praying for those who are going through this, and “may God bless the memory of the victims… and heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.”
Something I read on The Political Guide summarizes President Obama’s position on the Second Amendment, published in July 2012.
[President Obama’s]… record indicates that he is a strong supporter of reigning in firearms to prevent violence. This includes support for the assault weapons ban, support for international treaties to restrict firearms, and appointing Supreme Court Justices that are opposed to second amendment rights.
Reports are continuing to come in that there were more firearms, in addition to the handguns used.
Will we ever find out where he got them – and how easily? Will we ever deal with this issue by addressing gun control in a substantive way?
Do we really think there is no correlation between easy accessibility of guns and unspeakable acts of violence?
Must we really comply with an attitude toward guns that is two centuries old?
How do we claim to be a “god-fearing” country and not do something about the guns? How many times do we look at the data – or follow these stories – shocked, nauseous, despairing, incredulous?
How can these things continue to happen? Don’t we have the best congressional representation money can buy?
I marvel at the disingenuity of the Florida senator who, after every single shooting, piously says “Now’s not the time to politicize this tragedy by discussing it”. Very clever. He knows there will never by a time because there will be another one before this one dies down. And another one after that. The $3.3 million he has received from the NRA might have something to do with it.
I wonder how many parents have taken solace in their tragedies from the fact that anyone with a hero or vigilante complex has a weapon freely available with which to pursue the perpetrators, after the fact. Because this is the fantasy which is sold to the public to justify the presence of guns in the first place.
Is it an even trade off? The entire public safety in jeopardy to satisfy the fantasies, fetishes, or even speaking most charitably, fears, of the gun fans. Some four million people, by NRA numbers. Less than one and a half percent of the U.S. population, about the size of my city. I can’t believe that one city’s population gets to terrorize the whole nation.
Back to the Florida congressman. OK, lets not discuss this last shooting. Lets discuss the shooting before this one – the one you didn’t want to discuss then because it was too soon. And then after the next one we’ll discuss this one. And so on, until we have at least had some discussions!
The problem is you are inverting the facts.
NRA has 58% approvals among the entire US population. That is is a fairly clear majority. At 5.5 million paid members, and 58% approvals
If you go over to FEC or open secrets, the gun control lobby gives a lot more money. That is fine but please don’t imply the NRA gives anywhere near the gun control lobby to politicians, the number appears to be about 9:1.
As far as rushing to tear up the Fourth, Fifth or Second amendments, it is absolutely correct to avoid doing so on emotions instead of data and debate and rushing it.
US homicide is down about 57%, gun homicide 58% and in the 5-20 year old cohort down more than 60% in the past 25 years
By your logic groups like ACLU who represent 0.4% of Americans are terrorizing the rest of America by making it harder in Americans to hold and mandatory treat the mentally ill than any other nation, and by making it harder to get warrants, search and surveille people, use evidence in courts, etc etc.
In the past the NRA has had high popularity. In 2005 the approval rating was 60%, in 2012 (right after the Sandy Hook shootings) the figure was at 54%, and in 2015 it was back up to 58%. But with the recent series of massacres (a fair characterization, I think) polls show support for the NRA is decreasing, and for gun control increasing.
If you would like to be up to date on current trends I highly recommend researching recent polls.
Key findings from one from Quinnipiac University:
• The NRA has too much influence over politicians, 60%.
• 66% overall support for stricter gun control – “the highest level of support ever measured
by this poll.” Among gun owners – 50% for vs 44% against. For white voters with no
college degree – 62% for vs 35% against
• 67% vs 29% for a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons
• 83% vs 14% for a mandatory waiting period for all gun purchases
• 67% – It is too easy to buy a gun in the U.S. today
• 59% – If more people carried guns, the U.S. would be less safe
• 75% – Congress needs to do more to reduce gun violence
From a CNN poll, taken right after the Parkland massacre:
• Regard for the NRA: 49% unfavorable, 46% favorable.
• 70% for reform of gun control. “…..the highest proportion of respondents favoring stricter
gun control the poll has found in the past five years, and a sharp increase from October,
when just 52 percent of those polled supported more restrictions.”
• 57% for ban of manufacture, sale or use of semi-automatic weapons
I checked your Open Secrets reference. After putting their charts into spreadsheets to double check the numbers, I see nothing to support the claim of 9x spending by gun control advocates. When I look at the data on spending over the last twenty years by both gun rights groups and gun control groups, I see that, between the top twenty recipients of pro-gun money and the top twenty of anti-gun money, the pro-gun forces spent $14.7 million and the anti-gun forces spent $2.3 million, a ratio of over 6:1 in favor of gun rights. The site’s statement that “Gun control interests, by comparison, have been a blip on the radar screen” seems to be well supported by the data.
After these findings I saw no point in checking your assertions further.
As a Denver native, I both attended K-12 in the public school district where Columbine took place and my 2 young daughters were in their elementary school within the Columbine school district the day that Columbine took place.
I can still remember the helpless feeling of watching it unfold on Denver TV News beginning at Noon while my toddler son napped upstairs.
And though my girls were just 2 blocks away from our home-they were locked in their schools that day until early evening.
Now they are 20, 26 and 30 yrs old- and seeing it take place yet again while
nothing changes in Congress.
It is very interesting to see the comments around the Internet, many of them in favor of MORE guns. Why aren’t teachers armed? Why don’t kids go through a security screening like getting on a plane?
Seriously?
This stuff doesn’t happen anywhere else but the U.S.
I wake up most weekends to the sound of gunfire. Hunters. It isn’t as if there are no guns in other countries. But they are tightly regulated. And these kinds of mass shootings are very, very rare.
I spent twenty-six years as a high school teacher in Newark, NJ. We had everything there: broken homes, very broken homes, wonderful intact families, strong single parent families, drugs, gangs, damaged children, good children, brilliant children, teen pregnancies, etc. I never wanted to work anywhere else. I can confidently say that gun control is NOT the solution. At best, if there is a best, gun control would be the equivalent of placing a tiny band-aid on a gaping, gushing wound, that ultimately requires amputation.
Ideally, the solution rests at home. But, I’m a realist, so I know that our schools are the next stop in keeping our children safe, at least while they are there. As a community, we have permitted our politicians and the media to manipulate our collective common sense. In many instances, we have joined them in encouraging hatred, violence, and complete disrespect for the rule of law and humanity.
This level of school violence, supersedes political divisiveness, it requires immediate action. Here’s what we did in Newark: security guards in every school, metal detectors in middle and high schools, groups composed of teachers trained to assist security during their prep periods, intervention within the community to deal with student behavior problems and absenteeism, mandatory parental attendance at school meetings, assistance for students requiring remedial attention, etc. In short, we took responsibility for the children in our care. Did we create a utopia? By no means; but we met problems head on every single day. We took direct responsibility, and that is the only solution to this problem…inner city…suburb…the treatment is the same.
And as a point of reference, in Israel, certain teachers in every school are trained in the use of firearms. The guns are concealed, and no one knows which teachers have access to them. Israel has never sustained this type of atrocity in their schools. Just saying…not promoting!
Angela, I admire your time in the inner city schools. And I do agree that home life and other circumstances are fundamental factors. However, respectfully, I disagree with many aspects of your viewpoint.
For one thing, the comparison to Israel is not relevant. That is a country wedged between potential enemies, and caught in what is or has been essentially a war zone for decades.
Secondly, this does not need to be a “either or” situation. Rather, I think we have a situation of “and.“ We can have better security where it makes sense, AND smarter firearm policies AND Better integration of systems including those that touch on mental health.
And it goes without saying that societal issues that are the foundation of so many problems need to be addressed. But that is very much a long term and complex process.
But to imagine that we could secure every potential gathering spot where people come together, every office building, every small business, every restaurant, every mall, every open air field where people gather for a concert or a fair, is ridiculous. And to those who believe that we should arm teachers, I think that is equally ridiculous. I find that proposition appalling. Do we expect our teachers to be marksmen? To open fire like a police officer? In a room full of kids potentially? This is a very slippery slope of, in my opinion, bad to worse.
Our children should not need to go to school in locations that are armed camps. It makes no sense that assault weapons can be purchased on the open market. It makes no sense that we have had eight school shootings already this year. It makes no sense that in 19 years since columbine, we are still in this situation.
There are common sense measures that some states have implemented, but the federal government will not. There was such a groundswell over banning bump stocks a few months ago, after Las Vegas, and then it simply evaporated. Moral cowardice among our politicians.
What about the assault weapons ban some 20 years ago that actually made a difference? And once that ban was rescinded, the mass killing went back up again.
Surely, the second amendment did not foresee automatic weapons, or a nation of 300 million needing to carry guns to feel safe. And as a slight aside, living in an open carry state, I have to tell you, I am creeped out every time I am out and I see someone who is not a police officer with a side arm. Terrifying.
I don’t think there is a quick and easy fix, nor a one dimensional one. But to rule out the inclusion of addressing the insanity of gun ownership in this country is to rule out the key issue.
Just my two cents.
I certainly didn’t intend to imply that it was an “either/or” situation. I was responding to the urgency of such a situation. We instituted those measures in our schools because of daily, deadly encounters: stabbing, muggings, etc. No one was safe!
Of course, the things you highlight are critically important, but if we waited for those social changes to take place, we’d be burying kids every week. At some point the community has to come together to protect its children, while everyone else hypothesizes about the remedies. I was suggesting immediate action, as opposed to wringing our hands in dismay, waiting for others to agree on strategies.
I would not want to see teachers armed either, but I would not be against more trained security in our schools. While we debate the necessity for better mental healthcare, try to convince those in authority to enforce the gun laws that are already in place, hold agencies, like the FBI, accountable when they don’t do their job, kids are dying. My point,, though obviously I did a poor job trying to make it, was that we are not helpless while we wait for others to step up.
Just for the record, I know where Israel is located.
Duly noted, Angela. And I do appreciate your nod to the underlying issues of poverty and mental health that must be addressed.
While trying to reality check a recent Facebook post, I ran across an interesting article in the Times of Israel, debunking the NRA’s advocating an armed society by using Israel as an example.
It can be found by Googlng “Israel dismisses NRA’s claims about gun laws” or here is an article spelling it out following Sandy Hook. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-dismisses-us-gun-lobbys-inaccurate-claim-about-gun-laws/
Thank you, Robert. Helpful to the discussion.
Thank you for that reference, Robert. My information came from a friend who was a former Israeli journalist. Your article, however, was quite edifying.