Thank you for this eloquent essay. My question is how did we lose the house of representatives given the strength of the feeling about gun violence? Did we not try hard enough? Was the messaging wrong? Something went terribly wrong in the last election for those who want to prevent the worst of climate change and the worst of mass shootings. We have to figure out what it was. Not to mention women’s rights!
Here in NZ we had our experience of mass murder in Christchurch and changed our Gun Laws The sun still rises, the earth still rotates around the sun and people still live. I do no understand the USA. Isn't life worth more ?
Epidemic gun violence is no longer a city or state problem. It is a national problem due to the highly transitory nature of society today. The piecemeal approach to firearms laws renders them mostly ineffective. States, counties and cities with strong firearms laws are undermined by states that have weak firearms laws. Radical problems sometimes require radical solutions. New Zealand and other civilized nations have risen to the occasion when confronted with horrific mass shootings while the United States wrings its hands and offers thoughts and prayers. Epidemic gun violence demands a national response in a comprehensive Federal Firearms Safety and Firearms Violence Reduction Act that recognizes the second amendment but injects some common sense into it. Casually accepting mass shooting deaths weekly undermines any claim of moral superiority this country has. At a minimum, the act should include: 1. Mandatory application to purchase and possess a firearm, 2. Comprehensive background investigation including mental health history, 3. Mandatory training in the safe use and storage of firearms with provision for different types of firearms along with proficiency certification, 4. Licensing to possess and carry that is revocable for violations of the act and periodic renewal like Driver licenses, 5. Stricter penalties including mandatory jail time for firearms related crimes, 6. Stricter laws regarding the sale and distribution of firearms with harsh penalties for illegal trafficking in stolen guns. There is no doubt the NRA and GOP will fiercely fight such an effort just as they have done for every firearms law at the federal state and local level for the past 50 years. The NRA could play a major role as being the primary organization in the training and certification component of the act. To do nothing is to carry on our tradition of destroying our nation as a civilized society with a moral compass. Governor Gavin Newsome is correct in his proclamation that the Second Amendment has now become a suicide pact for America. Gun laws can and do work in spite of the lies of the gun lobby. The rest of the civilized world has demonstrated that. Those who say it can't be done here by admission have been defeated and share part of the blame for the carnage by their omissions. For far too long we have treated firearms legislation as a zero-sum game where it is all or nothing.
How I would love to see, and fall in with, a coalition of ER doctors, veterans, law enforcement, clergy, teachers and more, to lock arms on this and say,”No more.”
More children die now from gun shot wounds than automobile accidents.
The economic cost to society for each lost life is millions of dollars no matter the age of the victim.
The cost in grief and emotional suffering defies any price tag.
If only we had a government that was actually representative of the will of the people, and not just the interests of those who contribute the most money to political campaigns and lobbying.
Thank you for a good reminder to stay in the game. You make a good point that some of the most dramatic changes in our society have come about after very long-running efforts and pressure against the prevailing current. I will try harder to change my attitude from "this will never happen" to "this can and will happen" and try to participate in even small ways.
Hunters and responsible gun owners have always had guns and likely always will. The change is who now has guns and the kind of guns they own. Voters need to hold representatives accountable for their irresponsible votes on gun control. The legislators are as responsible for the gun deaths as the shooters. It is truly a "no brainer" to ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines from civilian ownership. The politicians not voting for banning assault rifles and not voting to ban high capacity magazines are as guilty of "gun murders' as the shooters. These irresponsible elected representatives need to be held accountable for the carnage repeatedly and repeatedly waged against our children and other innocents in our society. I wish a collective class action lawsuit could be brought against these elected representative to take responsible action. These cowards do not belong in public office. They should be grave diggers of those slain by the mass shooters. They should pay the price for the senseless carnage, loss of life and the destroyed lives and families.
Dan and Elliot, thank you! thank you! thank you! For pointing out the key phrase of the 2nd Amendment "a well ordered militia". As you said, it doesn't refer to a lone gun man, The Well Ordered doesn't refer to out of control militias such as the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Skin Heads, Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists or whatever they want to call themselves. Nor does anything written in the Second Amendment allow criminal behavior. At the time the "Bill of Rights" (the first ten Amendments) was written, there were muskets, hand guns, and a very, very few rifles. Hunting, while it was still a sport to the wealthy land owners (who ruled this Country), was done for the necessity of supplying food for the table. The forests at that time were huge, technically owned by the government, filled to the brim with edible wildlife, and open to the public to fill their larders. Most fire arms were imported from Europe. American firearm industry didn't even exist until the mid 19th Century. So for any Supreme Court or politician to proclaim the Second Amendment protects their RIGHT to make, advertise, and sell to anyone any weapon of any kind is a flat out lie. Likewise to proclaim that it forbids registration, background checks, weapons sold to persons with criminal records, history of insanity, history of violence is also a flat out lie. Congress has the ABSOLUTE right to control weaponry of any type. What is lacking are politicians with sufficient courage, willing to legislate for the benefit of the 335 million people they are paid to represent, selflessly, without regard to power, greed, or re-election. And guess what politicians, you'd probably be reelected anyway for your show of courage.
Lobbying by rich and greedy groups must stop. Three words. Power-greed-and self-promotion for needless guns must stop. I never saw a deer that one bullet or arrow could not stop. Why are automatic weapons even put in the same category as hunting weapons or those that defend our homes? Why? because of lobbying, greed, power and more money offered for reelection.
While I completely support stringent gun control…..I still think we should look beyond guns. Someone who picks up a gun and shoots people is dealing with frustrations that seem to have no solution. It seems more like a last resort than calculated. We might consider asking what are the stresses that contribute to someone choosing such an appalling option. Gun control only addresses the symptom, and surely it would reduce the massacres, anger and frustration will surface in some other way. Let’s deal with the causes for people flipping out in such a way.
there are so many areas of our lives today that seem to summon up despair, and we each have limited resources in terms of money, energy, and resilience to fend off that despair. how can we choose one, or two, and ignore the rest? it can be so overwhelming that it makes me want to curl up in a ball like an armadillo and chant "i know NOTHING, i see NOTHING, i hear NOTHING." can't do that, though...
In my recollection two former Supreme Court chief justices declared the current interpretation of the 2nd amendment to be a sham It was never meant to let anyone carry anything any time. And for those who declare they must have assault weapons for " protection" It is baloney. What or who are they protecting themselves from? If it is the federal gov, they will be outgunned, If it is robbers, well, one would have to have a loaded rifle ready to go at all times, and certainly not locked up. In my study of this absurd and cruel an shameful and immoral situation we are in with guns, there have been very very few situations where a gun was actually used for "protection" ( I'm not including gang shoot outs here) but thousands and thousands of examples of those terrible weapons used for killing innocents. I am so so horrified and ashamed of this., ashamed of those who find this OK. We have a problem not just with guns but with selfish and/ or unempathetic leaders and citizens.
Regarding guns alone. Military style guns are the weapons of choice in these mass shootings. They should not be available for sale to civilians under any circumstances. Nor is there any need for high capacity magazines. Sportsmen and homeowners have no need foor them.
I have not seen sporting guns used for massacres . As such, existing laws requiring background checks and waiting periods are more than sufficient for their sale.
However, concentrating on gun control does nothing to address the anger and dispair that now grips so many in our country. Homes are lost when payments can't be met because of unresonable healthcare costs. Hope is forfeit under our present economic inequalty conditions.
We see daily examples of what our country has become when we find hudreds of our people living on the streets in abject poverty. We find people begging for charity through "go fund me" pleas on the internet. We drive on broken roads and cross rivers on unsafe bridges. The list goes on and on. Worst of all is that we know that we are leaving our children with fewer opportunities for success than we had.
I don't think our dilemma can be fixed. Congress is rife with corruption and extremists are now oftentimes chosen to govern us. Millions of our citizens aren't paying attention to what is happening and won't wake up in time.
So in regard to gun violence, by all means, address limiting the number of guns out there. It is a popular drum to beat. But it doesn't cure the cancer that is killing our country.
Thank you for this eloquent essay. My question is how did we lose the house of representatives given the strength of the feeling about gun violence? Did we not try hard enough? Was the messaging wrong? Something went terribly wrong in the last election for those who want to prevent the worst of climate change and the worst of mass shootings. We have to figure out what it was. Not to mention women’s rights!
Here in NZ we had our experience of mass murder in Christchurch and changed our Gun Laws The sun still rises, the earth still rotates around the sun and people still live. I do no understand the USA. Isn't life worth more ?
Epidemic gun violence is no longer a city or state problem. It is a national problem due to the highly transitory nature of society today. The piecemeal approach to firearms laws renders them mostly ineffective. States, counties and cities with strong firearms laws are undermined by states that have weak firearms laws. Radical problems sometimes require radical solutions. New Zealand and other civilized nations have risen to the occasion when confronted with horrific mass shootings while the United States wrings its hands and offers thoughts and prayers. Epidemic gun violence demands a national response in a comprehensive Federal Firearms Safety and Firearms Violence Reduction Act that recognizes the second amendment but injects some common sense into it. Casually accepting mass shooting deaths weekly undermines any claim of moral superiority this country has. At a minimum, the act should include: 1. Mandatory application to purchase and possess a firearm, 2. Comprehensive background investigation including mental health history, 3. Mandatory training in the safe use and storage of firearms with provision for different types of firearms along with proficiency certification, 4. Licensing to possess and carry that is revocable for violations of the act and periodic renewal like Driver licenses, 5. Stricter penalties including mandatory jail time for firearms related crimes, 6. Stricter laws regarding the sale and distribution of firearms with harsh penalties for illegal trafficking in stolen guns. There is no doubt the NRA and GOP will fiercely fight such an effort just as they have done for every firearms law at the federal state and local level for the past 50 years. The NRA could play a major role as being the primary organization in the training and certification component of the act. To do nothing is to carry on our tradition of destroying our nation as a civilized society with a moral compass. Governor Gavin Newsome is correct in his proclamation that the Second Amendment has now become a suicide pact for America. Gun laws can and do work in spite of the lies of the gun lobby. The rest of the civilized world has demonstrated that. Those who say it can't be done here by admission have been defeated and share part of the blame for the carnage by their omissions. For far too long we have treated firearms legislation as a zero-sum game where it is all or nothing.
Well said, Dan and Elliot!
How I would love to see, and fall in with, a coalition of ER doctors, veterans, law enforcement, clergy, teachers and more, to lock arms on this and say,”No more.”
More children die now from gun shot wounds than automobile accidents.
The economic cost to society for each lost life is millions of dollars no matter the age of the victim.
The cost in grief and emotional suffering defies any price tag.
Let us say together, “No more”.
If only we had a government that was actually representative of the will of the people, and not just the interests of those who contribute the most money to political campaigns and lobbying.
As long as we have the people who say "You're not taking my guns!", we will never be able to bring any degree of control over gun violence.
We need to look at how other countries do gun control and adapt it to the US.
We need additional monies for the mental health of our citizens.
Hiding our heads in the sand will no nothing.
Thank you for a good reminder to stay in the game. You make a good point that some of the most dramatic changes in our society have come about after very long-running efforts and pressure against the prevailing current. I will try harder to change my attitude from "this will never happen" to "this can and will happen" and try to participate in even small ways.
It appears that racism, hate & paranoia are principal drivers of "I have the right to own whatever I choose" mind set.
Hunters and responsible gun owners have always had guns and likely always will. The change is who now has guns and the kind of guns they own. Voters need to hold representatives accountable for their irresponsible votes on gun control. The legislators are as responsible for the gun deaths as the shooters. It is truly a "no brainer" to ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines from civilian ownership. The politicians not voting for banning assault rifles and not voting to ban high capacity magazines are as guilty of "gun murders' as the shooters. These irresponsible elected representatives need to be held accountable for the carnage repeatedly and repeatedly waged against our children and other innocents in our society. I wish a collective class action lawsuit could be brought against these elected representative to take responsible action. These cowards do not belong in public office. They should be grave diggers of those slain by the mass shooters. They should pay the price for the senseless carnage, loss of life and the destroyed lives and families.
Dan and Elliot, thank you! thank you! thank you! For pointing out the key phrase of the 2nd Amendment "a well ordered militia". As you said, it doesn't refer to a lone gun man, The Well Ordered doesn't refer to out of control militias such as the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Skin Heads, Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists or whatever they want to call themselves. Nor does anything written in the Second Amendment allow criminal behavior. At the time the "Bill of Rights" (the first ten Amendments) was written, there were muskets, hand guns, and a very, very few rifles. Hunting, while it was still a sport to the wealthy land owners (who ruled this Country), was done for the necessity of supplying food for the table. The forests at that time were huge, technically owned by the government, filled to the brim with edible wildlife, and open to the public to fill their larders. Most fire arms were imported from Europe. American firearm industry didn't even exist until the mid 19th Century. So for any Supreme Court or politician to proclaim the Second Amendment protects their RIGHT to make, advertise, and sell to anyone any weapon of any kind is a flat out lie. Likewise to proclaim that it forbids registration, background checks, weapons sold to persons with criminal records, history of insanity, history of violence is also a flat out lie. Congress has the ABSOLUTE right to control weaponry of any type. What is lacking are politicians with sufficient courage, willing to legislate for the benefit of the 335 million people they are paid to represent, selflessly, without regard to power, greed, or re-election. And guess what politicians, you'd probably be reelected anyway for your show of courage.
Lobbying by rich and greedy groups must stop. Three words. Power-greed-and self-promotion for needless guns must stop. I never saw a deer that one bullet or arrow could not stop. Why are automatic weapons even put in the same category as hunting weapons or those that defend our homes? Why? because of lobbying, greed, power and more money offered for reelection.
You nailed it when you wrote:
“There is no lack of ability to reduce gun violence — just a lack of will to value lives over partisan politics and industry profits.”
Thank you for giving me some hope. I want my granddaughter to grow up safely.
While I completely support stringent gun control…..I still think we should look beyond guns. Someone who picks up a gun and shoots people is dealing with frustrations that seem to have no solution. It seems more like a last resort than calculated. We might consider asking what are the stresses that contribute to someone choosing such an appalling option. Gun control only addresses the symptom, and surely it would reduce the massacres, anger and frustration will surface in some other way. Let’s deal with the causes for people flipping out in such a way.
there are so many areas of our lives today that seem to summon up despair, and we each have limited resources in terms of money, energy, and resilience to fend off that despair. how can we choose one, or two, and ignore the rest? it can be so overwhelming that it makes me want to curl up in a ball like an armadillo and chant "i know NOTHING, i see NOTHING, i hear NOTHING." can't do that, though...
In my recollection two former Supreme Court chief justices declared the current interpretation of the 2nd amendment to be a sham It was never meant to let anyone carry anything any time. And for those who declare they must have assault weapons for " protection" It is baloney. What or who are they protecting themselves from? If it is the federal gov, they will be outgunned, If it is robbers, well, one would have to have a loaded rifle ready to go at all times, and certainly not locked up. In my study of this absurd and cruel an shameful and immoral situation we are in with guns, there have been very very few situations where a gun was actually used for "protection" ( I'm not including gang shoot outs here) but thousands and thousands of examples of those terrible weapons used for killing innocents. I am so so horrified and ashamed of this., ashamed of those who find this OK. We have a problem not just with guns but with selfish and/ or unempathetic leaders and citizens.
Regarding guns alone. Military style guns are the weapons of choice in these mass shootings. They should not be available for sale to civilians under any circumstances. Nor is there any need for high capacity magazines. Sportsmen and homeowners have no need foor them.
I have not seen sporting guns used for massacres . As such, existing laws requiring background checks and waiting periods are more than sufficient for their sale.
However, concentrating on gun control does nothing to address the anger and dispair that now grips so many in our country. Homes are lost when payments can't be met because of unresonable healthcare costs. Hope is forfeit under our present economic inequalty conditions.
We see daily examples of what our country has become when we find hudreds of our people living on the streets in abject poverty. We find people begging for charity through "go fund me" pleas on the internet. We drive on broken roads and cross rivers on unsafe bridges. The list goes on and on. Worst of all is that we know that we are leaving our children with fewer opportunities for success than we had.
I don't think our dilemma can be fixed. Congress is rife with corruption and extremists are now oftentimes chosen to govern us. Millions of our citizens aren't paying attention to what is happening and won't wake up in time.
So in regard to gun violence, by all means, address limiting the number of guns out there. It is a popular drum to beat. But it doesn't cure the cancer that is killing our country.