Since last
week, I have been thinking about the deaths at Navy Yard. In the past, I have been very vocal about my
beliefs about gun control and how important I think it is. I have also been very vocal about my beliefs
regarding mental illness and violence. While I am concerned about the loss of
civil rights that may result if we automatically deprive the mentally ill of
the right to have a gun, I do think we have to grapple with the issue. It is my opinion that violence in our society
is due to the fact that we don’t regulate gun ownership and make sure that
people who shouldn’t have weapons don’t have them. I have battled a sense of
hopelessness since the Navy Yard shootings.
People are still dying. And this
country, which I love very much, is doing nothing. So, I gave myself some time to process my
feelings internally. And this blog
article is my attempt to share my thoughts with you. The first point I would like to make is
this: Gun violence is running rampant
throughout this country.
I think
that we are disrespecting the people that have died by refusing to do anything
about the conditions in our country that have resulted in their deaths. There is research out there that indicates
that the fact that we have so many gun deaths in this country is related to the
number of guns in this country. Here is
a link to an article discussing this research: http://lat.ms/1eW27iq Now
of course, there is some logic to this.
If you have more guns, there is more opportunity to use them in
crime. Is the relationship between the
number of guns and gun deaths a causal relationship? Or is it simply a correlation? I will leave that to the experts to
decide. My focus is on the number of
deaths. Here is an article that discusses
the numbers of mass shootings in this country.
Of course, the way that you define mass shootings has an impact on the
numbers. If you describe mass shootings
as a shooting in which four or more people are injured or killed, Redditt found
that there have been 250 mass shootings in this country in 2013. How many people have been injured and died? (Here
is the link to the article that gave me that information: http://huff.to/1dlqMbO
Are we a
country that ignores that kind of violence?
It has been the case thus far. We
have resisted the idea that guns cause human death. Apart from the rights of hunters to hunt, I
think that we are like an addict refusing to acknowledge that our addiction to
a drug has negative consequences.
Addicts are famous for ignoring the impact of their behavior on their
lives and the lives of their loved ones.
We are ignoring the impact of guns on the people who lose their lives as
a result of them. Meanwhile, I think
about families. And death. And the fact that it doesn’t matter whether
it is the fault of the gun or the shooter. (What a silly argument.) We have
lost people that have the right to life.
Remember the phrase contained in the Declaration of Independence
regarding the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
We defend
the 2nd amendment, but we don’t defend the victims of crime. As a result, they have lost the most basic of
rights…the right to life. I recognize
that there are differing beliefs regarding gun control. But I also recognize that our refusal to even
grapple with the need for change is evidence that we don’t really care about
the people who live in this country. We
don’t recognize that when we don’t do anything, we are showing that we value
guns over life. Personally, I think that
is a sad statement about our shared value system.
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