If you think the opioid addiction crisis is bad, it pales into comparison to the addiction the US has with firearms. Just this post alone has been restarted three times because three major shootings have happened in less than two weeks.
It’s easy to feel hopeless with the seemingly never-ending gun-related events that continue to plague the U.S. It’s easy to feel disheartened, because for every effort to try and implement common sense laws that are designed not to limit your right to bear your arms, but to protect people from future events like what happens on an almost weekly basis, we keep seeing thoughts, prayers, and excuses.
It’s easy to feel this way because politicians and gun activists continue to turn a blind eye to this pandemic that’s been plaguing the U.S. far longer than COVID. It’s easy because they continue to use gun laws to appease to a certain voter base that wants guns for everyone and not much else or so it appears. Just look at the talking points of the Florida and Texas governors. Just look at other politicians who make campaign ads talking about machine gun bacon. Look at how fervent they defend the right to guns but fight against affordable healthcare, reproductive rights, the right to clean air and clean water, and so many other things that fall on the wayside because it’s a higher priority to protect the right to bear arms than it is to do pretty much anything else to benefit your average citizen.
You see all of this and it’s extremely easy to want to give up.
Well, it’s easy if you’re not one of the people who have lost a loved one to gun violence. For those people, it’s impossible to want to give up.
Angry? Frustrated? Enraged? Heart-broken?
Yes, to all of these.
But deterred?
How about no. How about hell no. (For an example, look at the acceptance speech of Manuel and Patricia Oliver, who are the parents of Joaquín Oliver, who was murdered four years ago in the Parkland shooting ). Then look at the ad for “The Lost Class” made by Leo Burnett.
In one weekend during May 2022, not one but two shootings occurred. Both showed clear signs that something could happen. Both happened anyways. Then a third shooting happened this week where teachers and students were gunned down by another person who had easy access to an AR-15. And still people insist these are isolated incidents and fight tooth and nail for change to not happen. They still complain about everything that’s wrong with the country and how everything’s so unfair and living conditions are impossible, etc. etc. But regulating guns? Nah. We can’t do anything there. Our hands are tied. Or maybe they’re too busy counting corporate money from the NRA. What I’m not sure is if they check their bank accounts before or after tweeting their thoughts and prayers.
People are expected to train for an active shooter but not much is done to deter, minimize, or make things a little harder for a shooter. By the way, let me edit that last sentence to make it a bit more uncomfortable. Children are expected to train for an active shooter. Children. And if that’s not insane enough, then tell me why it’s harder for you to buy cold medicine at a pharmacy than it is to buy a gun in many places in this country.
Which gets me to thinking maybe we need a different approach to address gun violence.
Imagine debt forgiveness, a living wage, or full health insurance for the entire family if you agree to vote for universal background checks. How about free gas for 5 years if we agree to a nation-wide 48 hr. holding period? How about halving the interest on your mortgage if we raise the age of being able to buy a gun to 21? How about free tuition for your kids if people are required to take a written and practical test to own a gun? How about free treatment for members of your community with a terminal condition or free insulin for any members in your community who have diabetes if we ban AR-15s and all high-capacity weaponry? How about free food, housing, and job placement for people in your community suffering from homelessness if people with a criminal record are unable to get guns nation-wide?
No? Then how about people make a wish list. The sky’s the limit because after all, this isn’t going to fly, right? Then why not go hog wild and say what you really want. People are not saying hand in your guns. They’re saying: let’s put laws into effect to make a background check mandatory. They’re saying maybe it’s not a great idea to sell guns to minors. They’re saying maybe you don’t need an assault rifle to hunt buck. They’re saying, if you have a criminal record or a history of violence, that maybe, possibly, it’s not the best idea to let you buy any weapon you want with little to no resistance. So ask away. State your demands. Let people know what it will take to bring change, and again, this is not to take away all your guns, it’s to try and do something to make it so that we don’t have a mass shooting every week. How sad is it that if we had a mass shooting every month it’d be not only an improvement, but a DRASTIC improvement?
Oh wait, the new talking point for THIS go around is that it’s a problem with mental illness. That’s the only issue. Although I completely agree that the US has a huge problem with mental illness and access to mental health care and coverage for everyone, some people have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results...except that to compound things, nothing has been done since Sandy Hook, which would make this even worse than insanity. It makes the lack of change irresponsible, idiotic, vile, and dare I say, un-American.
- Universal background checks.
- Nation-wide 48 hr. holding period.
- Raise the age of being able to buy a gun to 21.
- Written and practical tests to own a gun.
- Ban AR-15s and all high-capacity weaponry.
- If you have a criminal record and a history a violence, you don’t get to buy a gun.
There’s no reason all of these measures can’t be put into place. Excuses? Corporate interests? Yes. But no logical reason why any of these measures weren’t implemented a decade ago or right now.
