A mentally unstable man opened fire at a school this past week, ending the lives of several people and tragically changing the lives of countless others. President Barack Obama spoke about the need for reform. The flags flew at half-mast and vigils were held. After a few days, the memory of the incident faded into obscurity for most as the country moved on to the next big news story. Sound familiar?
To those not personally affected by mass shootings, there is a certain numbness that eventually takes over when news breaks of another incident. Instead of accepting that’s just how it is in the United States, it’s time to realize something can—and must—be done about it.
After a mass shooting like the one that occurred at Umpqua Community College, there is a brief calm—before a massive political storm. Democrats use the emotions of the incident to take the opportunity to talk about the need for stricter gun control laws, which would put the U.S. closer to the violence rates of comparable developed countries. Republicans, on the other hand, violently shake their fists and berate the Democrats for trying too hard to “politicize” the issue. By doing this, they buy themselves (and, more importantly, the NRA and other pro-gun groups) time for the incident to be forgotten and for things to return to normal.
These incidents, however, are unfortunately becoming the norm. According to Adam Lankford, an associate professor at the University of Alabama, the U.S. has been home to 31 percent of mass shooters worldwide, despite only housing 5 percent of global population. This shows that the gun culture, as well as the laws that enable it, has gotten out of hand.
There is approximately one gun for every person in the U.S.—a stat difficult to believe to many non-gun owners. Those who do own them, and those who represent gun owners, go to great lengths to justify their ownership.
The tired “self-defense” and outdated Second Amendment arguments arise after every mass shooting. After each successive mass shooting, however, it seems more and more like gun proponents are grasping for straws. A gun is an unnecessary weapon to defend yourself against mass shootings because the time needed to locate the danger and eliminate it isn’t long enough to make a legitimate impact. The Second Amendment, written in the age of tyrannical governments and muskets, was designed to protect against attacks from governments and other states. If the U.S. was somehow invaded, normal untrained citizens with weapons they don’t know how to use would have a tiny impact in defending the nation when compared to the most highly trained, resource-rich military in the world.
Another tactic people use to delay action on gun control and put incidents behind them is to dismiss them; “This won’t happen to me” is a common mindset. The problem, however, is that unless action is taken, the odds of it happening nearby remain higher than in any country in the world. This logic should hit home particularly well for Wisconsinites. In 2012, six people were killed at a shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, a mere 90 miles from Madison.
Shortly after the shooting, Republican presidential candidates sent condolences to the victims but were quick to deny that gun control legislation would do anything to prevent such massacres. Jeb Bush got flack from Democrats when he said “stuff happens” in response to the shooting; Donald Trump reacted with a similar tone, saying, “These things happen.”
The thing is, these things don’t have to keep happening. They’re horrible tragedies, but instead of shrugging them off as symptoms of our current society, we can take action to make sure they don’t continue to happen. The only way to do this is to not sit around and wait until the next one happens; in order to take down interest groups intent on sustaining the culture of violence in the U.S. we need to start from the ground up. No government has ever been able to resist a widespread movement of the people, because the people are the ones that give the government power in the first place.
We’ve always been told that violence is never the answer, but when faced with pivotal decisions on gun control, we decide to allow the violence to continue. People need to follow suit and do what other developed nations have done long before us: Get serious about gun control. Maybe then we’ll have fewer vigils, fewer somber presidential speeches and a more harmonious and safe society.
Sebastian is a freshman majoring in environmental studies, history and journalism. Do you agree with him? Are political candidates using outdated arguments regarding gun control? Please send all questions, comments and concerns to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
