Contrary to the views of too many pundits, now is exactly the time to talk about gun control. We’ve awakened to the worst mass shooting in American history. At this point we don’t know much about the shooter except that he’s a dead white guy who opened fire on a crowd of concert goers from a perch in a high-rise hotel room.
We do know about the NRA, though. They are currently pushing a bill to loosen restrictions on silencers. It should be called the Murderers’ Accommodation Act since reducing the sound of gun fire will make shooting people inconspicuously much easier. Another bill would force states to recognize concealed carry permits obtained in other states. So much for federalism.
The NRA has pushed a false narrative that any gun control will lead to banning all guns. They assured gun owners that Obama and every other Democrat was coming for their guns, driving up gun and ammunition sales. After eight years of Obama, we have fewer gun restrictions, not more. However, we also have far more mass shootings. More guns don’t make us safer and a good guy with a gun rarely stops a bad guy with one.
Over the last 70 years, six of the ten most deadly mass shootings have occurred since 2007. Instead of taking any action to address these types of tragedies, Congress and state legislatures, especially here in North Carolina, have taken action to loosen gun laws. The mass murderer in Las Vegas had ten guns and, apparently, multiple high-capacity clips. They were probably all legal.
While Congress refuses to take up a real debate about curbing gun violence, the NRA pours money into propaganda meant to intimidate anyone who opposes their agenda and to mislead people who support them. Last fall, I had a conversation with a good friend and NRA member who owns multiple guns. He was voting for Trump because Hillary was going to take his guns away. I argued that she just wanted universal background checks and limits on high capacity clips. He agreed with both measures but assured me that she would appoint a Supreme Court Justice who would vote to scrap the 2nd Amendment. NRA misinformation campaigns have been devastatingly successful.
I doubt anything will happen. Congress will send its thoughts and prayers. Donald Trump will express his sorrow and outrage. Maybe Congress will postpone the debate over the bill on silencers, but it certainly won’t die. Gun sales will surge, as if anybody with a gun could have prevented the carnage in Vegas. Gun manufacturers will make millions off the tragedy. The NRA will keep spending to misinform the public and keep its supporters worried about ending the 2nd Amendment. The rest of us will just wait until the next horrific tragedy that outdoes this one.
I hope I’m wrong.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
So who approved the bump stock? Obama.
Perhaps you’re right Mr. Mills. Perhaps now is the time. No time like the present either, is there? Once again, I find myself wondering if my views and beliefs on weapons are correct ones. I’ve never subscribed to the Wayne LaPierre notion of “…a good guy with a gun…” (I’m not a member of the NRA or any other gun rights organization) nor have I subscribed to the notion that Utopia rides on the back of gun registration or prohibition (l am a registered Democrat). Like you, I consider myself to be a Southern Democrat. Certainly not from the mold in which that term was used 50 years ago, but certainly moderate, not ultra-left and never ultra-right.
To be fair however, Secretary Clinton turned Presidential Candidate Clinton wanted a bit more than just universal background checks and limits on high capacity magazines. At various times during her public office service she has advocated for national registration; product liability suits against firearms manufacturers. She did want a ban on what is termed “…military style assault rifles and weapons.” The key word in this entire paragraph was in the previous sentence; “…ban….” People were rolling right along and that word popped up. For many, that was all that mattered. She backed off or reversed some of the more extremist views and policy stances, but if you reverse yourself once you can do it twice. I’m not sure, but I’d venture a guess that premise was foremost in your friend’s mind at the time you had your conversation with him. Unlike your friend however, I did vote for Hillary.
I’m not vehemently ‘pro-gun’ but I do believe that if you are not a criminal, then prohibitions to ownership should be few. If you are a criminal or mentally ill, your pathway should be permanently blocked for your lifetime. Universal background checks and mental health checks should be part of the process. Those checks should come about as a means of checking a single nationwide database.
Reporting requirements should include laws that compel healthcare professionals to report any voluntary or involuntary commitment to a mental health institution. It should include diagnoses of severe depression, suicidal/homicidal ideation. If you are able to regain your mental health and can sustain it across a reasonable length of time, then your ability to buy a firearm may be re-considered. This should also be true of diagnoses of alcoholism, drug abuse or drug addiction. The re-instatement of your citizenship upon being released from prison after being convicted of a felony should likewise be reconsidered; insofar as weapon ownership is concerned.
But that plows too deep. It is better to restrict or ban the type of weapon bought than to sanction the person buying it. It isn’t the user to blame, fault and hold responsible, but the implement.
Then there is the quest for why. Why did this have to happen? What could have been done to stop it? What were the signs that could have signaled it? Asking these questions stimulates our need to assign blame. By explaining it, then perhaps we can understand it; prevent it, keep it from happening again. Stop the hurt that permeates the land when this horror happens. As far as stopping this from happening again I don’t think you can. Not even if you have found the answer to why. You can ban every firearm tomorrow and it will happen again; sadly, tragically, I fear it will happen again. Mass murder is something vile, sinister, evil. It isn’t confined to the use of firearms though. Firearms do make convenient. Mass murder can also be accomplished with explosives and poisons. Not difficult to make if you know the chemistry and if you don’t, it’s readily accessible via Google.
There is no question that there is a serious problem. Each time this happens the numbers increase and more people get torn up, more families mourn. Each time there are cries from both sides of the issue for either complete control, banishment, or some other control on mechanism. From the other are laments of Big Brother, gun grabbing, and the dissolution of the 2nd Amendment. It’s like two Bighorn sheep butting heads; makes a lot of noise and that’s about all. In the meantime, the stage is set for the next tragedy. Out there, now, as I write this, is the next perpetrator, who now has a challenge on his hands; how to up the body count and become the new mass murderer with the highest body count. A macabre game of one up where the pieces have real flesh and bone.
It is in that reality then that yes, I heartily agree it’s time for a discussion. One in which there are a multitude of questions in search of answers. One in which there are no presumptions, demands, predisposed notions, or egos, but an actual discussion of facts and points culminating in a rational solution amenable to all parties. Not a one side takes all slam fest of wills, but one which will work for all interests toward the betterment of our society.
Thanks, Tom. Perhaps the ideological orientation of the Las Vegas nutjob will corner the NRA and conservatives into finally agreeing that we need licensing and background checks on gun ownership. Craziness exists on both extremes. Bernie Sanders’s campaign got blamed for the shoot up of the Republican Congressional baseball team.
I will join the march against gerrymandering in Raleigh on Wednesday morning. Gerrymandering is a root cause of why the NRA holds so much disproportionate power within our political system. I wonder if Alabamans will find themselves unwilling to elect gun-toting Roy Moore to their open Senate seat. Not counting on it.