The tragic events at the school in Parkland, Florida last week are a reminder of what happens when people become complacent about serious issues facing our society today. As Facebook and other social media alight with comments, concerns, fears, and anger, many wonder who is to blame? What can be done?
Some blame our present society. I’ve read several memes stating erroneously:
“40 years ago, every pickup truck on high school lots had a rifle in the back window and there was no school shootings. What changed?”
Memes like these are misguided and misleading.
As we know, not every pickup had rifles in windows back in the “good ol’ days”. Also, those that had them, probably had hunting rifles (.22s, maybe a shotgun) and only during hunting season. Besides, there is a tremendous difference between a hunting rifle and an assault weapon. Reductionist memes and twitter tripe may be our present layman’s way of attempting to communicate these days, but they have yet to translate into action or lead to any serious civil discourse, and seem to merely spark a duel of jejune opinions that just ends up in a draw, with insults slung on both sides of the issue.
The gun debate, as we know, is a trigger topic, calling many to action on social media, with gun owners and enthusiasts spouting go-to slogans like “If we ban guns, they’ll only find another way,” or “If we make guns illegal, only criminals will own guns,” or snarky comments like “Making guns illegal means no one will ever use or abuse them, right? Like the war on drugs?”
As far as I can tell, no one is suggesting that we ban all guns or we make all guns illegal; rather, they are trying to limit the access and use of war weapons in the hands of people who are not in battle defending “the security of the free state.” If the same war weapon is being used in multiple school shooting incidents, it warrants some serious discourse and possibly some sensible legislation limiting the access to these types of weapons, or at least simple measures to reduce the incidents where such weapons are perpetrated on the public.
We do need to thoroughly and intelligently examine our present gun culture, and at the same time not let our emotions become as combative, irrational, and indifferent as some NRA gun-enthusiasts, who seem have a cognitive dissonance when it comes to their reverence to their guns and public safety.
The problem isn’t just the guns, and it isn’t just people.
It is people easily attaining guns and what they do with them. Guns do kill people, and people do kill people, and some guns (war weapons) are specifically made to help people kill multiple people very quickly and should not be in the hands of irresponsible untrained citizens.
As for the proposed gun legislation, I fail to see why it seems so scary to these sensitive gun owners. You have to register to vote, you have to register to get a car, you should have to register to get a gun, and stay current with your registration and the requirements to keep it.
We have databases for many aspects of our lives, adding a national gun registry seems innocuous enough, unless you are someone with something to hide. Responsible run-of-the-mill hunters and gun owners should not be on the defensive and are remiss to think that some of these proposed minor changes infringe upon anyone’s 2nd amendment rights, as these policies would only affect people wielding war weapons. Those individuals claiming the need for a war weapon for protection indicates an unhealthy level of paranoia and may fall into the “mentally unstable” category if they feel the need for that much over-the-top gun power, and should possibly reflect on their fears, choice of hobbies, or life circumstances.
One huge hurdle is our political system.
Unfortunately, the GOPs stanch defense of the NRA appears to suggest a complicity as the continued body count of American citizens, and too often American children, keeps rising. This is not a liberal or conservative issue, nor a Democrat or Republican issue. This is a human issue.
All four sitting presidents over the last decades have offered poignant words, thoughts, and prayers in the aftermath of these horrific events, but have made no significant inroads to correct this trend. No hobby lobby and/or national association should have that kind of power. I think most rational people would agree that doing something is better than doing nothing, as that has proven to have lead to more innocent lives lost.
The brilliance of our U.S. Constitution is that it is a fluid document that can be ratified and changed as the times change, and can be interpreted many different ways. Maybe the “right to bear arms” means we all just need to roll up our sleeves and get to work on coming up with a viable solution to this escalating epidemic. Maybe more passionate informed Americans need to go in “guns blazing” (as they say), and transfer their frustration into vigilance and their vigilance into votes. We need to be persistently proactive, creating preventative measures before people weaponize themselves, rather than reactive and only make our voices heard after these incidents occur.
The only way to change the system is to fight the system from within and raise our collective fists out there in the real world. I’m sure people will continue to debate on social media, posting half-assed analogies or sharing lame memes blaming bad parenting, “kids these days,” the media, TV, video games, or mental health, but unless an organized percentage of the public decide to take on the complacent gun lobby, sway lazy morally-bankrupt elected officials, and stay vigilant and vote on these issues after the media drama-selling dies down, nothing will get done and we’ll be back here again in a few months, maybe with even more bloodshed, all in the name of the almighty hallowed Gun.
—
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join like-minded individuals in The Good Men Project Premium Community.
◊♦◊
◊♦◊
Photo Credit: Getty Images