Monday, September 23, 2013

What about the Navy Yard?....


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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