A Perspective on Gun Legislation

Yesterday’s attack in San Bernardino, California is a tragedy that should grieve us all. While both the nature of the suspects motives and their acquisition of firearms is still under investigation, this type tragedy had become all too common in our country. In fact, this type of tragedy had become an almost daily phenomenon. Soon after the Oregon school shooting The Guardian published an article entitled, 994 Mass Shootings in 1,004 Days: This is what America’s Gun Crisis Looks Like. The truth is really quite simple. We need to be more thoughtful about how easy it is in our country to acquire firearms.

 

Although many people may believe that liberals are out to take away everyone’s guns, this is simply untrue. There is a sharp distinction between the seizure of everyone’s guns and the implementation of laws that address access, safety, and commerce issues. I believe that we need stricter regulations surrounding those issues.

 

I, like many other progressives, have owned firearms. There are many reasons why gun ownership can be great. However, there are also many reasons why our current policies have failed us. To demonstrate this, I’m going to cite some of David Hemenway’s findings.

 

·       The presence of a gun in a home increases the risk of suicide.

·       The presence of a gun in a home increases the chance of a woman being a victim of homicide. In fact, 85% of women killed by firearms in the world’s wealthiest countries happen to be Americans.

·       Permissive gun carrying laws do not reduce crime rates.

·       Strong gun laws reduce homicide rates.

·       Finally, 80% of all firearms deaths in the world’s wealthiest countries occur in the United States.

Even Fox News has reported that increases in school security have failed to reduce the growing number of school shootings.

It is obvious that our country is facing a huge problem. We need to reevaluate how accessible firearms are to people with criminal records, documented mental health issues, and children. Guns should not be easier to acquire than cars; and yet, in many cases they are. I believe that States, in conjunction with the Federal government, should pass tougher laws regarding the purchase and sale of firearms.

 

Rates of gun violence are understandably related to the differences between city and rural life. If States are given the opportunity, they can protect rural hunting cultures and simultaneously address urban gun violence with stricter regulations.

 

Nevertheless, in both instances I think that it is high time for us to address how people with criminal records acquire firearms legally. Our paranoia has contributed to the deaths we’ve seen on the news. We are responsible and we need to take a stronger stand on gun violence. I would hope that Americans of all stripes would find it alarming that known and suspected terrorists can easily acquire firearms within our borders. As The Washington Post reported in November, suspected terrorists were able to purchase firearms in 91% of the cases they tried to. In hard figures, they were successful at least 2,233 times. I would hope, that all Americans find that to be an unacceptable figure.

It’s okay to own firearms and it’s perfectly fine to practice sports like hunting. I wish every American could embrace Teddy Roosevelt’s admirable combination of conservationism and sportsmanship. Unfortunately, we also need to make a more concerted effort to prevent the escalating rates of mass shootings in this country. We need to make it harder for criminals, terrorists, and the mentally ill to acquire firearms.