Is it OK?

“…Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over.”[i]

We, our nation, experienced another mass shooting last week. It happens all the time. The world looks at us and wonders; who are we, and why do we tolerate violence? We too wonder why. Nothing happens. We know the solution; we do not want to deal with it. Why?

A mass shooting is an event in which four or more people are killed by a gun. They happen all the time in the U.S. Not so much in other countries.

Through October, there had been:

·       662 mass shootings in the United States in 2022.

·       Six hundred seventy-one people killed

·       Two thousand six hundred sixteen people were wounded.[ii]

It is OK to kill people; it is the price we pay for our freedom we are told.

It is immoral, that is what it is!

There is something about a gun. What is it? It seems different today from years ago. Back then guns were for hunting, target shooting, or skeet and trap shooting. Dads took their kids to the rod-and-gun club to learn gun safety, Boy Scout camp taught gun safety and target shooting along with archery. It did not occur to people to use guns to kill people. Well, except for the gangster element.

A major study in 2015 by Adam Lankford of the University of Alabama found that the only correlation between a country’s rates of mass shootings is its rate of gun ownership.[iii]

·       The U.S has about 4.4% of the world’s population

·       The U.S has 42% of the guns[iv]

Politicians across the country tell us that something must be done because shootings are horrible. Ask them what they want to do about the shootings, and they take you on a trip to fantasy land. Most of the folks left of center want to implement all kinds of restrictions on ownership, knowing they will never be enacted. The folks right of center want to concentrate on the nation’s mental illness crisis, which does not exist. Few want to deal with facts or real solutions.

Those who oppose gun control want us to do something about the nation’s mental health issues to reduce the killings. Others want to add to police forces to reduce crime rates which they say will reduce killings. Study after study shows that:

·       The U.S. does not have mental health issues any greater than other nations

·       The U.S. does not have crime rates much different than other nations

·       The U.S. does not have people more evil than other nations

·       The U.S. has more guns than other nations and they are used more often to commit crimes.

We are told, most often by the NRA, that “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.” That has a nice ring to it, for some. An alternative might be: “People use guns to kill people.” That may have a hole or two in the argument, but it makes a point.

If we want to stop the killings, we should consider who can own guns and who should not own a gun and the process by which a person can purchase a gun. Ideas like that run into some basic notions that we in the U.S. have about gun ownership, and varying interpretations of the Constitution.

Any proposed limitation on who can own a gun comes face to face with the “they are coming after our guns” catchphrase. There is some truth to that, but …

Let’s dig deeper. Ask ourselves - should felons have guns, should people with mental issues have guns, should those with criminal records have guns, should a spouse who abuses another have a gun, should a child molester have a gun? Should a person who is a danger to himself or herself have a gun? I think the answer to those questions is NO!

Our culture tells us that owning a gun is a God-given right. That makes us outliers in the pantheon of nations. The rest of the world takes the opposite view. In most countries, one must justify the need for a gun and go through an extensive process to prove that they are not criminals, abusers, or molesters and are mentally fit to have a gun. Then they must get a license to buy the gun. These background checks can take months. The point, however, is simple: do a background investigation before the purchase of a gun, not after.

Last week, the shooter at the Walmart store bought his gun only hours before he killed five people and injured many more. He was arrested a year earlier for threatening to bomb his mother’s home. The local sheriff did not implement Colorado’s Red Flag Law to prevent the person from buying a gun in the future and did not report it to the FBI National Crime Unit. The person’s name would not appear on a background check.

Texas recently passed a law allowing the open-carry of weapons without a permit. Other states allow anyone to own a gun and do not send crime reports to the national government so that they can be included in background checks. California has strict laws related to gun ownership. Yet, it reports a lower percentage of crimes to the FBI than forty-nine other states. Forty percent of law enforcement agencies nationwide fail to report crime data in a timely and complete way.[v]

In the last year, there have been seven hundred armed demonstrations in the U.S., and 77% of those were open carry.[vi] Understandably, school administrators and city officials feel intimidated when people show up at meetings in camo and rifles slung from their shoulders. The Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other white supremacists go beyond local events. They were leaders of the armed insurrection on January 6^th at the Capitol. Many members are now in jail or awaiting sentencing. They claim that they need the Second Amendment to protect their First Amendment rights. Hogwash!

Mass shooting after mass shooting brings the wringing of hands but no new laws. Few elected officials want to tackle the hard job of getting guns off the street, out of the hands of criminals, and away from the mentally ill. Irrespective of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the need to have a gun at home to protect the family is a myth.

At some point, before the country becomes more disjointed, Congress should deal with the issue. They should find a way to ensure that those who truly need guns and gun-sport lovers can have their guns, but they must also find a way to limit ownership to those who should not have one. They could start with baby steps:

·        Implement improved background checks before the purchase of guns

·        Outlaw assault-type weapons for personal use[vii

·        Outlaw guns that carry more than five shells

·        Limit the sale of bullets to fifteen or fewer except at gun clubs

·        Outlaw handguns except at gun clubs

·        Outlaw open-carry laws

·        Outlaw stores from advertising the sale of guns

·        Make licenses to own guns renewable every five years

We can eliminate the killing fields if we want to. These baby steps would put us on track to be as tough on gun ownership as most of the industrialized world. Why has it become OK to kill kids in their classrooms, partygoers in their clubs, Bible study groups in their churches, and people attending outdoor concerts? Why?

Perhaps the British journalist was right: “Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over.

But it’s not OK!

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[i] Dan Hodges, Mail Commentator, June 19, 2015, on Twitter – Referring to the Sandy Hook school shooting “In retrospect…”

[ii] Wikipedia compilation

[iii] Max Fisher & Josh Keller, NYT November 7, 2027

[iv] Ibid

[v] FBI data – Axios November 25, 2022

[vi] NYT, November 2022

[vii] An assault weapon is a firearm that is chambered for ammunition of reduced size or propellant charge and that has the capacity to switch between semiautomatic and fully automatic fire. They are designed for and used by the military. Assault-type weapons are sold to non-military individuals and may vary in design to bypass various state laws.