America’s Gun Sickness
As more and more Americans get vaccinated to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it’s starting to feel we are slowly returning to a sense of normalcy. One sign that normalcy is approaching is the return of mass shootings in America. According to CNN, there have been seven mass shootings in the past seven days. During the past year in bizarre American fashion, we exchanged mass shootings for 543,00 COVID related deaths. Instead of watching children in schools be slaughtered by AR-15s, we had to watch the slow and painful march of COVID-19 wreak havoc on the American citizenry while our former President publicly denied the viruses existence. We exchanged one sickness for another and now we’re moving back to our country’s love affair of Americans killing each other in schools and on the streets with firearms.
When I ran for office in 2018, I was proud to be endorsed by and stand with organizations like Moms Demand Action, an organization of literal mothers who are tired of burying young people at the hands of gun violence. Whether that be mass school shootings or Americans dying due to street violence that plagues many American cities. You can preach to me all day about your right to bear arms and the second amendment, but just know our nation’s ‘right to bear arms’ is rooted in white supremacy. Once the slaves were freed after the Civil War, white Americans began to heavily arm themselves because they became afraid of former slaves seeking revenge and having an uprising. But the revolt never happened and African Americans just wanted to live their lives in peace. But simply letting African Americans live in peace wasn’t good enough and segregation existed for roughly 90 years. Simply asking why Americans love shooting each other is a big question that I am unsure I answer in one blog post. But just know I strongly believe America’s love for guns and the constant gun violence our nation is plagued with is rooted in racism and the distinct fear of our neighbors in this country.
Image provided by the University of California, Berkeley.
This begs the question, what can be done to reduce mass shootings and gun violence? According to all the Republican lawmakers in this country, not a damn thing! Imagine being elected by the citizenry to solve problems and then when a problem continuously presents itself over and over again, your response is “nothing can actually be done!’ Many of the elected Republicans are essentially saying those poor kids in places like Sandy Hook and Columbine are just the small price to pay for the freedom to purchase an AR-15. At what point does a person’s right to life supersede another person’s right to bear arms? Common sense things like universal background checks, requiring all gun owners to have gun safes, mandatory gun training classes, mandatory waiting periods to purchase a firearm as well as limited magazine capacity are all common-sense approaches. Will gun owners be inconvenienced? Absolutely, but these are measures that would save lives and a little bit of inconvenience is worth it. There are so many other industries that are much more heavily regulated than the firearm industry and it’s laughable. Take a look at what Americans have to go through just to drive a car. We have to take a driver’s education course, take a paper test at the BMV, then take an actual driver test and then we have to go renew our license every few years. And still after all of that, you still have to purchase the car and then purchase car insurance that you pay on for however long you own that car. It’s annoying and inconvenient, but it’s completely necessary.
Regulating firearms is a big legislative hurdle both at the state and federal levels. In Ohio, our gerrymandered state legislature is bought and paid for by organizations like the NRA and the Buckeye Firearms Association. Groups who love to promote gun ownership, but only to specific Americans (hint: white people). The Buckeye Firearms Association is full of people who threw a hissy fit and protested at the Ohio Statehouse because Mike DeWine told them they needed to wear a mask. Imagine telling these people they needed to purchase firearm insurance for their guns or require them to purchase gun safes so their kids don’t find their guns and bring them to school. The odds of any real regulation on firearms appears unlikely, but the federal level would be the best hope. I’m not saying guns have no purpose or they should be banned outright; I am not arguing that at all. I am stating there is a serious problem in our country related to firearms and gun violence and some steps need to be taken to reduce gun violence and mass shootings. If an elected official refuses to try and solve this issue, they’re not doing the job we elected them to do, period. Hold those Republican’s feet to the fire in places like the Ohio State House and in Congress and maybe we’ll get somewhere eventually.