Antigo, Wisconsin, is a place most of you reading this have never heard of. It’s a town of of just over 8,000 people, located in the northeast part of the state. It’s like a lot of small towns in middle America, where most of the time nothing happens other than everyday life. It’s a place where parents feel that their children are safe, especially when they send them to school.
That idyllic life was shattered on April 23, 2016, when the sound of gunfire erupted outside the high school as shots were fired at two couples leaving the prom. Two were wounded, and a police officer outside the school wounded the shooter, who later died. Six lives were irreversibly changed, and the innocence of the teenagers who did nothing more than attend their high school prom is forever lost.
It’s likely that most of you never heard that this shooting happened this past weekend. Even if you did, you likely did not pay a lot of attention to it—and why would you? This has been an everyday occurrence in 21st-century America, where shootings have become so commonplace that we shrug our shoulders and just move on. But the truth is firearm violence is a national health crisis.
[T]he medical community still remains deeply concerned, as more than 478,000 fatal and nonfatal violent crimes were committed with a firearm in 2011
More young people die by gun than by any other accident except motor vehicle, according to the Center For American Progress. Their research shows that in 2010, 6,201 people between the age of 15 to 24 died by firearm, while 7,204 died in car accidents. In past decades when young people were dying in car accidents, we responded by raising the drinking age. We also mandated safer cars, we mandated seat belt use—we took action.
Contrast that to Gov. Scott Walker’s words about the tragic shooting in Antigo.
"It's really trying to address everything from bullying, to mental health issues, to just how we deal with anger and aggression in society today. And, again, there's no one thing. There's not one easy solution. It appears to be a rifle, so unless people are going to ban hunting, which from even the most extreme I haven't heard much of that talk in the past, it's pretty clear that that route wouldn't be the answer.
Bullying has been pointed to as the root cause for this shooting, as the shooter was bullied according to some reports. We do have a mental health crisis in this country (and I could go on about the damage Walker has done to health care in Wisconsin), but the real issue here is—and always will be—the root problem in America: Easy access to firearms, and a culture that worships the gun. Just look at our entertainment, wherein the hero almost always saves the day with a gun.
At the time of this writing it is unknown if the gunman purchased the rifle or if it came from somewhere else. But one thing is certain: A troubled young man had access to a firearm and ammunition. And it is time to stand up to the National Rifle Association and its backers.
If gun owners want to claim they’re responsible gun owners, then they should back that up. I was trained by the U.S. Army on firearm safety and I firmly believe that there are no firearm accidents. If your firearm is discharged while you are cleaning it, showing it off, or just lovingly admiring it, you should be charged with reckless endangerment. If someone takes your firearm and shoots someone, you should be held accountable for not securing your gun. Seriously—how difficult is it to put a goddamn trigger lock on a firearm?
I have a 16-year-old son and I would rather he not end up as a mere statistic on the news, just a footnote to a shooting that everyone shrugs their shoulders about before moving on moves with their lives.
We should not have to have armed security guards at every single public event, all to prevent someone who thinks that problems can be solved with a gun.