Stop promoting gun culture
It’s a sign of how little people understand mental health and how deeply ingrained gun culture is to America that some people think it’s easier to solve all the mental health problems than to somehow limit access to guns.
It’s the Culture
Yes, it’s the guns. But it’s also the gun culture. People need to stop celebrating and worshipping weapons of death as a solution to problems.
It’s more newsworthy when America doesn’t have a mass shooting
Half Moon Bay. Monterey Park. Chicago. Robinsonville. Baton Rouge. Shreveport. Houston. Fort Pierce. Goshen. Rockford. That’s not even all of them in the past week.
It’s so frequent we are numb to it. Maybe that’s why most of America continues to do nothing?
Schools
A county in North Carolina has approved a plan to put AR-15s in all schools for security reasons. Who can imagine anything going wrong with this plan?
Having two kids in public schools, I see every year how desperately underfunded our schools are. I’ve been PTA President; I’ve seen the receipts of what teachers have to self fund for their classrooms.
And that’s on top of teacher salaries that are mostly not near what they should be.
The dearth of public school funding is one of the most short sighted policies in America. Few things will pay off better for our country than investing in education.
So it’s sickening when funding then goes instead to guns or hardening schools. Which statistically has been shown to do more harm than good.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776515
“The rate of deaths was 2.83 times greater in schools with an armed guard present”
The winner in this, of course, is the gun industry, as people just keep buying more guns. And now schools are, too.
I’m shaking my damn head.
Activism
Sometimes it feels as if there are way too many important issues to deal with at once. It’s exhausting to try and keep up.
I don’t think we feel secure
Debates over the 2nd Amendment often hinge on phrases from the text, “shall not be infringed,” or “a well regulated militia.”
Maybe there’s something we’re missing in the part between those phrases? If this is about security and freedom, do we feel more secure and free today with the proliferation of guns? It seems the list of places we don’t feel secure just keeps growing with each mass shooting.
Yes, this is mostly a semantics point and has no real legal basis. But, perhaps to feel more secure we need to stop this idolatry of guns as the key to freedom. Because it doesn’t seem to be working.
It’s an addiction
Since Uvalde, there have been 33 mass shootings in the US, with a mass shooting defined as 4 or more shooting victims.
157 days into 2022, the US has seen 246 mass shootings; more than one per day.
There were almost 20 million guns sold legally in America in 2021.
America clearly has a problem, and this addiction to guns and violence is not going away any time soon.
Leaked Republican memos tell the GOP party members and pundits to, “ignore guns, talk inflation.” They offer no solutions. Just telling people to buy more guns and more hardened doors. Apparently that’s their only answer to protect schools, churches, grocery stores, hospitals, medical clinics, parties, private homes, etc., where these mass shootings keep happening and happening. They expect the furor to die down and people to move on.
Let’s not let them ignore the problem.
Public Schools
Public education is the greatest tool for social mobility we have as a country. An educated populace benefits all of us, both in ways material and immaterial.
Yet public education in the US has been under attack for decades, by criticism and mistrust, crippling budget cuts at the K-12 levels, and unduly soaring costs at college levels.
So it’s unsurprising to see hot button issues used against it to tear down public education. In the wake of Uvalde, I’ve seen several commentators saying this is why homeschooling is better than public schools, this is why schools should be privatized, and questioning public schools’ ability to keep kids safe. It starts to sound like the calls for privatization of education, like we heard when Betsy DeVos was Secretary of Education under Trump.
According to statistics online, 10% of US K-12 students attend private school, yet 6% of school shootings 2000-2018 occurred at private schools. Clearly there are many reasons, some correlated and not a cause.
The conservative/ libertarian Cato Institute (founded by one of the Koch brothers) said in 2018, “Anytime you write about a tragedy and point to your favorite policy reform as the solution, it can seem opportunistic and, frankly, a little callous. But it is not groundless to think that school type could matter, and nothing should be off‐ limits for discussion to end these sorts of tragedies.”
I might actually believe they were honest about nothing being off-limits if they honestly considered and tried popular aspects of gun control. Instead, we just get more attacks on public education.
Fund the Moms, Instead
As the horror unfolded in Uvalde, a mother was handcuffed outside the school for “interfering,” as she pleaded with law enforcement officers to enter the building and save the children. Her children.
As a parent I can imagine the frustration, fear, and anger as the seconds and minutes ticked by, knowing a gunman was in that school with her kids.
So she did what the law enforcement officers hadn’t done. She went in and saved her kids. Alone. Unarmed. Brought her children to safety.
We’ve seen the Uvalde SWAT team photo. Dressed up, playing soldier. We know the armored tanks that many of these police forces have. It’s been reported that Uvalde spends ~40% of its municipal budget on its police force. And those police stood by for 90 minutes as children and teachers were slaughtered. What a waste of money. And it contributed to wasted, innocent lives.
Many want us to hold up police as heroes. It’s a dangerous job, undoubtedly. But they do too many jobs for which they aren’t suited. And this one, for which they’ve been outfitted, trained, and paid, they didn’t do. It’s not a problem unique to Uvalde.
Remember that when politicians tell us they need more money for police. Instead, we need better solutions than police.
Because in this one instance, a single mother did more than most of the police there.
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Empty Promises, We Need Action
Politicians posture and bluster, some promoting real solutions to gun violence, some suggesting it’s all a problem of doors (Ted Cruz is an idiot), some sucking up to the gun industry at the NRA convention today (addicted to that gun lobby money).
But none of them do anything. Empty promises.
When will we see real action?
Isn’t it Ironic? Don’tcha think?
On Friday, Trump is scheduled to speak at the NRA convention in Houston, TX. In an open carry state. And no firearms will be allowed. Because that just seems sensible, right? Don’t allow a bunch of people to bring in guns to a speech from the former President. Cuz a room full of people with guns might be dangerous.
Hopefully the irony is not lost on you.
Undoubtedly the NRA will be raising tons of money from the latest shooting and calls for sane gun control. And Wayne LaPierre will keep lining his own pockets- maybe for another house or another trophy hunting safari.
Sane Gun Laws or Guns Everywhere?
With each mass shooting there’s an outcry for more gun control. And an inevitable backlash from those who stubbornly oppose any actions. Instead, many say we need MORE guns.
Ted Cruz called for more armed guards in schools. More “hardened targets.”
Of course they won’t research the effects that might have. In fact, some research shows, “armed guards were not associated with significant reduction in rates of injuries; in fact, controlling for the aforementioned factors of location and school characteristics, the rate of deaths was 2.83 times greater in schools with an armed guard present.”
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776515
Some politicians think it will hit a point there are so many shootings the people will rise up and demand gun control. But instead we get more stalling for any research or changes, and more guns in more places. Which only benefits the gun makers. And paints an awful picture of the future.
Want to do something? Contact your Senators and tell them to pass H.R. 8- Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 and H.R. 1446 - Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021.
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No More Silence
Screw the thoughts. Screw the prayers. Screw the moments of silence.
We need action in this country. Lives - LITERALLY - depend on it.
