OPINION:
Mass Shootings Terrorizing America
OPINION:
Mass Shootings Terrorizing America
By D. S. Mitchell
Nothing New
Only four months into 2023 and there have been 195 mass shootings in America. The recent rash of mass shootings has shaken the nation. Rightfully so, such a wanton loss of life is unacceptable in a civilized society. Sadly though, it is difficult to be surprised. Spree killings have been as much a feature of American culture as baseball and apple pie, reaching all the way back to the days of Howard Barton Unruh. Howard was an American mass killer, sometimes classified as a spree killer. Unruh shot and killed 13 people (including three children) during a 12-minute walk through his neighborhood in the fall of 1949, in Camden, N.J. He was 28 years old.
A Couple Years Later
Charlie Starkweather is another twentieth century mass murderer that blazed across the pages of American newspapers with his 14 year old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. Charles Raymond “Charlie” Starkweather went on a multi-state killing spree killing eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming between December 1957 and January 1958. He was 19 years old. He killed ten of his victims between January 21 and January 29, 1958, the date of his arrest. I just wonder how many victims Charlie would have had if he’d had access to an AR-15? The point being, America has a gun problem and it is nothing new.
Powerful NRA Lobby
The latest Fox Gun Poll showed more than 75% of Americans support banning assault weapons and many other gun restrictions. The primary opposition to gun control laws in the United States are the gun manufacturers. The NRA has served as an arm of gun manufacturers for years, successfully masquerading as a citizen 2nd Amendment right’s group. The NRA and its bought and paid for wing of the Republican party have formed a powerful voice in Congress, effectively shutting down nearly all efforts to legislate gun control. One of their more ridiculous cries has been the case of “what-aboutism”
What About Switzerland?
In a laughable case of ‘what-aboutism,’ the NRA have tried to argue that America having so many guns isn’t the problem. Going so far as to point to Switzerland. The mountainous and tiny European nation having roughly 2 million guns in private hands, in a county of roughly 8 million people. Really? Is this the best the gun lobby can come up with when 13,959 have been fatally shot in the United States during the first four months of 2023. That 13,959 number includes suicides.
Apples & Oranges
This comparison is absurd. America is in no way similar to Switzerland. For one thing the United States has a professional, national army. It has also been getting involved in foreign wars from the word go, and has established allies, as well as a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. Switzerland has none of these things. A conditional member of the U.N., like most of them, the land of cheese and chocolate has not taken part in a foreign war, in a combat role, since 1815, the most action they’ve seen being in their contribution to U.N. Peacekeeping missions.
Armed Neutrality
This is because Switzerland has constantly upheld a policy of “armed neutrality.” Basically, they keep out of the business of other nations and defend themselves if needed. They accomplish this by maintaining what is essentially a standing citizen army through conscription and rigorous training. Under this system, every male Swiss citizen between the ages of 18 and 34, who are considered fit for service, are given a firearm by the government and trained how to use it, regardless of whether they have officially been recruited into the military. Preparatory courses are available to those as young as 16, for both males who will be conscripted and females interested in enlisting.
Rights Versus Responsibilities
It is clear that while Americans see owning a gun as a right, as in “the right to bear arms,” the Swiss see it as a responsibility, because there is no one else to do it. The majority of the 2 millions guns “in private hands” are held by what amount to reservists who are waiting for active duty. The rest held by those already in active duty. A fact which goes a long way in explaining why, despite all the guns, the murder rate is close to zero, there has never been a case of a civilian on civilian mass shooting, and the last mass shooting in general was nearly 20 year ago when someone stormed the parliament and killed 14 people before being shot by security.
Not Action But Response
America is far from unique in terms of mass shootings. There are violent people everywhere and several nations have had similar incidents. What makes America unique is in the sheer number of such incidents and the government response to such tragedies. The two political parties in the US are at loggerheads with one another; the Dems generally want to ban assault weapons and tighten gun laws while the Republicans are against such restrictions. The Republicans have been able to stop the Dems but the voice of the people is growing louder, all we have to do is look at the uproar in Nashville, TN after 3 children and 3 adults were killed in a private school shooting. In nearly every case that I could find, mass shootings in other countries are immediately followed by a swift and severe restriction by the government on the individuals access to firearms.
Look To The Great White North
The reason Canada has the gun laws they do stems from a single incident in 1989. In December of that year, a lone gunman, convinced feminists had ruined his life stormed Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal with an automatic rifle and a hunting knife, killing 14 people, most of them women. The Canadian government banned assault rifles and instituted strict prohibitions on handguns. Single-action long guns, such as bolt-action hunting rifles and shotguns, are still readily available. Canadians must submit to licensing and registration requirements. As a result of these strict laws, there has never been another mass shooting in Canada. There have been attempts, all of which have failed.
Hindsight
The government of New Zealand took swift action after the mosque attacks in the city of Christchurch in 2019. Before then there really hadn’t been any gun violence to speak of, so there was no reason for legislation. The shootings gave a very compelling reason and the new gun laws were quickly passed with little to no opposition.
Nip It In The Bud
Across the water in Australia, weapons used in mass killings have been mostly outlawed for ownership or import since 1996. The revision of gun laws coming after the Port Arthur Massacre, in which a lone gunman, used automatic rifles to murder 35 people. The government quickly corrected this oversight and there has not been a similar incident in the past 25 years.
This Is Not That
Invariably people will argue that’s all well and good for other countries, but America is so different. Really? We share a land border with Canada, which I have heard, only half jokingly, referred to as “America Junior.” Australians are known, outside America, as “Yanks (Yankees) with a different accent.” New Zealanders are a bit different it is true but Americans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders, at least those of the Caucasian persuasion, share common roots in Britain. Not only in terms of place names (New York, North York, New South Wales, Victoria, etc.) but also the traditions of Civil Law and civil responsibility.
Suffer the Little Children
Speaking of Britain, they didn’t have the best year in 1996 either. A lone gunman, this time armed with handguns, due to Britain’s already existing ban on assault rifles, attacked a school in Dunblane, Scotland. Rather than offering thoughts and prays, such as in the case of Sandy Hook and Parkland, the government actually did something useful. They tightened their already stringent gun laws to the point that no civilian can own anything but a single-action long gun, and that need must be for something other than self-defense. This basically limited access to farmers defending livestock from predators, and licensed hunters.
Fun With Numbers
A fun fact, particularly for those who don’t think that gun control has proven to make a difference; after the reforms, the overall murder rate in Britain dropped to among the lowest in Europe at 1 in 100,000. That is all of Britain keep in mind, including the famously chippy Scots who have styles of scars named after their cities (like the Glasgow smile). Then there is the case of Northern Ireland. Until the ceasefire of the early 2000’s, Northern Ireland was the site of a pitched guerrilla war between separatists Republican paramilitaries, who wanted a united Ireland, and the British government, supported by Loyalist paramilitaries who wanted the north to remain part of Britain. During the worst of it, 50 deaths per week was not uncommon, many coming in one attack.
What About Here?
At what point in time do Americans admit that we are living in an urban war zone? I personally was in the line of fire when a gang interaction turned ugly. I was not injured but another bystander about twenty feet from me was shot in the leg. Two gang members ended up dead Anyone of us, at any time and any place could be cut down by a guy with a gun, not because we have done anything wrong, but because in the United States, the Congress has sold out to the gun manufacturer’s. Recent polls indicate most Americans want basic back ground checks, including mental health restrictions before being able to buy a gun. I’m ready to ask, isn’t it time we did something about gun control in this country?
https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2018/11/11/mass-shootings-terrorism-problem/
https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2017/06/18/flag-day-shootings/
