What To Say About Guns?

I know that the solutions to the problem of the annual loss of life from hand guns in the United States are going to be as complex as the reasons that it has become an epidemic.  I do know that I have cried in my car more this past week than at any time since my youngest son was diagnosed with cancer as a 5 year old.   The news is not typically good, but I am not often repeatedly moved to tears.

So here are a few thoughts.  I am completely unmoved by the argument that gun legislations would not have prevented this most recent tragedy, or that strict gun controls did not prevent a similar mass killing of 80 people in Norway.  Norway has on average 14 gun-related deaths per year.  We have over 10,000 annually.  Clearly gun control can work—there are literally dozens of examples of that.  This is a public health hazard and we need to start approaching it like that rather than like it is a civil right to own and operate a gun.  We restrict driving privileges, we can do this.  It will not be easy, but progress can be made.  The solution is not one that will eliminate gun violence in one fell swoop—the objective is to reduce it, punish violators, and have a more sensible approach to firearms.

I am appalled by the suggestion that the answer would be to arm teachers.  Two things leap to mind, neither of them good.  The first is the shooting incident on the streets of New York this year, where police officers in pursuit of a gunman shot innocent people on the street—many of them—by accident.  These are people who are trained law enforcement officers, and they couldn’t avoid collateral damage.  I can only imagine what would happen with teachers.  The other is that while shootings in schools are rare events—most teachers go their entire careers without being in a school where one occurs—the ability of teachers to keep their weapons secure at all times would not be 100%.  There would be children who would then have unintentional access to firearms, and the damage from that would be at least as costly as what occurs with domestic firearms and children.  The presence of guns in a society leads to gun violence.  The absence of restrictions on firearms and ammunition increases gun violence.  Not to mention that it is hard enough to get good teachers as it is—if firearms are required in the classroom that will alter who wants to be a teacher for all the wrong reasons.

I have no answers, and I understand that the hurdles are significant, but that should not be the end of the discussion.  The time to talk about it is in the aftermath of a national tragedy—when else?  We devote millions of dollars and countless resources to the war on terrorism.  Terrorists are responsible for far fewer American deaths than gun violence, even including the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  What is wrong with a country that has far more loss of life to its citizens by domestic gun violence than a foreign war? It is time to admit we have a problem, and start to deal with it.