What is surprising and discouraging is the deafening silence over the issue of gun control in the American discourse. Just recently, after a lone gunman shot and killed six people and injured fourteen others (including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords), nobody even bothered to raise the issue. Not even a whisper was heard.
No one here is advocating a complete ban on firearms. That would be unconstitutional. It would also deprive tens of millions of peaceful and law-abiding citizens of their right to self-protection and recreation. And practically speaking, it would be beyond impossible to enforce. But can we all have an adult, calm, and rational discussion about background checks, registration, clip capacity, etc.?
We have an inferno raging. And unless we do something about it, more people are going to get burned.
These charts are from WaPo.
2 comments:
This is a sticky topic for me. As a disclaimer, I was in law enforcement until 2005 and have been a gun owner for over 20 years.
I do agree that the discourse over gun control has been a highly contested "all or nothing" affair. Gun control advocate's arguments seem to always fail when viewed from the larger perspective of the endless gun restrictions already in place at the state/federal level.
Conversely, gun advocates always use the "slippery slope" argument about restricting what weapon someone can buy. However, I have a really hard time explaining a need to buy an assault rifle or really large capacity weapon for home protection. I have a revolver for home protection. I took NRA safety courses prior to owning the weapon. My wife has also trained in using the weapon safely. My gun is stored safely awasy from prying eyes and my children. That being said, my gun has collected dust (thankfully) from disuse. I take it out to a range (2 times a year). My view is that with ownership comes responsibility. This is a fact that seems to ignored in many accidental shootings. It is also the lack of individual responsibilty that hampers most gun advocates' arguments.
The larger picture for gun control is the fact of the unchecked mental status of prospective owners. The recent shootings in Tucson highlight that the shooter was mentally unstable and had a history of increasingly erratic behavior prior to that event. Worldwide, we have seen similar incidents of random attacks (i.e. Chinese incidents of school stabbings, subway stabbings in Japan, a shooting rampage in England and so forth) Again, the weapons are different in each case, but the disturbing trend is the history of mental instability of each of the attackers. Couple that with differing state requirements of gun ownership. Virginia gun owners can freely dispaly their weapon on their person throughout much of the state. Maryland and D.C.'s laws are highly restrictive. Yet enter Pennsylvania, and the laws relax again. (just an example of neighboring states with wildly divergent state restrictions).
I do not have a simple solution to this argument. However, I do feel that the views of both sides needs to expand to larger issues of whether a person is mentally competent to own and have a gun. Furthermore, these arguments fail in the secondary markets (person to person and/or black market sales) that avoid the current restrictions imposed on registered gun shops.
@MattC: Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Although I don't own a gun, I have plenty of friends (who are and are not cops) who own pistols and rifles. All of them are super responsible and keep them locked and hidden, away from their children and thieves.
As you said, one big issue to consider is uniformity in laws. This is inherently messy and difficult because we've got 50 states plus DC. No matter how Draconian gun control laws may be in NYC or DC, lax laws in North Carolina or anywhere else down Interstate 95 means easy access. But the states' rights people will have a problem with this.
A comprehensive national registry would also help. If a gun owner who at one time was mentally healthy suddenly became ill and a danger to himself and others, then a national registry can inform local law enforcement of a potential problem. Of course, many people, whether it's privacy advocates or people with a strong distrust of the government, will not want Big Brother to have his nose so deep in our lives. (See failure to introduce a national ID card).
I don't pretend to have some, or any, solutions that are palatable to the majority. But I am really bummed that no one is stepping up to address these issues. It's almost as if we have all accepted gun violence as the norm.
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