The headlines read, “17 killed in mass shooting at high school.” It doesn’t matter which community this happened in: it is a national disgrace. This does not happen in any other country in the world with the regularity that it happens here in America. We are No. 1 in school shootings. Of all the things we could lead the world in, it is the taking of innocent lives. Seven weeks into 2018 and this is the eighth time (at the time of this writing) there has been a school shooting with fatalities.
Immediately after this most recent shooting at a Florida high school, arguments were made that we need to arm the teachers. Great idea—let’s put the kids in the crossfire. The answer to gun violence is not more damn guns. The problem is not mental illness, nor is it the firearm itself. The problem is that we live in a culture that glorifies violence, and firearms policy is being driven by a vocal minority.
In 2014, 31 percent of American households reported owning a firearm, down from 47 percent in 1973, according to a report from National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
Gun ownership has become more concentrated as a result, with a small sliver of gun owners owning a growing segment of America’s firearms inventory, according to the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. These gun buyers have come to be known as “super owners” and one study, conducted by Harvard and Northeastern universities, concluded that about half the guns in America are owned by only 3 percent of the adult population, with an average of 17 firearms each. (Emphasis added)
After the shooting, President Trump tweeted:
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin tweeted:
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted:
I could fill a diary with tweets from Republicans offering condolences, prayers, and thoughts for the victims of yet another school shooting. But thoughts and prayers do nothing for the victims of these entirely preventable crimes.
Reports have come out that the shooter purchased and owned this firearm legally.
“It was his gun,” family lawyer Jim Lewis said. “The family made him keep it in a locked gun cabinet in the house but he had a key.
It doesn’t really matter anymore if the firearm was purchased legally, illegally, stolen, or taken from a parent’s collection. The problem is not the rifle. The problem is how easy it is to acquire one, and the culture of glorified violence we live in. Our movies and television shows all glorify violence, and the way problems are fixed is with the barrel of a gun. You have to be 21 years old to purchase alcohol or gamble in this country. Yet an 18-year-old can go out and purchase a firearm that was originally designed for the military.
I am tired of writing about school shootings. I am tired of the inaction by our legislators. I am tired of a vocal minority that feels their right to own a firearm overrules our right to send our children to school without fearing they will be shot. I am tired of spineless politicians who offer thoughts and prayers, but nothing else to end the cycle of gun violence we see in this country. I am tired of the NRA dictating firearms policy.
Before someone accuses me of being a gun grabbing liberal. I am a gun owner. I like going to the range and shooting. I do not want to take your guns. What I do want is sensible firearms policies so that tragedies like this stop happening.
This should not be that hard: I think everyone, right- or left-leaning, can agree that school shootings and mass shootings of any kind are a bad fucking thing. Now what can we do to stop them? Because it is clear that thoughts and prayers are not working!
