Our Founding Fathers saw fit to explicitly name three freedoms in the Declaration of Independence: life; liberty; and the pursuit of happiness. I think we have reached a point at which the role of guns in our society infringes all three of these rights. Personally, I do not think gun ownership should be a right, but nor do I think it should be illegal.
Most gun owners - like most "anyone" - are good people. There is a roughly 1:1 person to gun ratio in America, and even though not all Americans are gun owners (if even a small fraction of those who are were maniacal killers), things would be a lot worse.
But things are bad. Things are really bad. Well over 10,000 Americans are murdered with guns each year (from Gun Violence Archives). Another 20,000 kill themselves with guns (from US News). We have the means to address some of that and save lives. It is far past time we took action to do so.
As always, happy Wednesday and happy reading.
This Day in History
1981– Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated by Islamic Militants while reviewing a military parade. Sadat was succeeded by Hosni Mubarak - then Vice President - who ruled essentially as a monarch until he was overthrown in 2011 during the Arab Spring. Mubarak was sitting next to Sadat during the assassination, and was wounded in his left hand by the gunfire and grenades. Nothing that couldn't stop him from running the country for the next three decades, but an experience that probably solidified his dictatorial impulses.
A Gun or An American Issue?
Is there something inherently American about our lethal addiction? Given that America leads the world in gun ownership (from the Guardian), and that our founding document enshrines the right to bear arms, it's not insane to believe that guns are a cultural and historical phenomenon (from Medium).
No doubt that guns did play an important role (though not necessarily a positive one) in the creation of our country, but there is no longer an untamed frontier to be conquered. There are not marauding natives attacking homesteads. There is not an authoritarian government quartering troops in our homes to enforce compliance with tax policies. The reasons we needed guns in the past no longer exist, but our cultural attachment is as strong as ever. We need to reevaluate the role of guns in our society.
The First Step is Admitting the Problem
Many people like to argue that denying someone a gun is not the same as cleansing them of criminal intent. It's true. Most murderers know their victims, and I understand and acknowledge that addressing those, and other types of crime, is a massive and complex issue, and that removing guns from the equation is not a panacea for eliminating crime.
But limiting and restricting guns will still saves lives. The United States is the only advanced country in the world that suffers from the outrageous levels of gun violence we see here, particularly in the form of mass shootings, which are a near weekly occurrence (from NYTimes).
This type of violence can absolutely be curtailed by being smart about guns, but not until we acknowledge that guns are a huge part of the problem. How many more innocent lives will be sacrificed for that realization?
Being Necessary to the Security of a Free State
The 2nd Amendment (though outdated in my mind) is quite explicit about why guns are necessary, but the way guns are used and viewed in our society is generally detached from the text of the law. Well-regulated militias, if they exist at all, are no longer important for the survival of a free state, or at least not ours. In fact, when they do exist, they may very well be undermining that free state by working outside the law (from Vice).
In fairness to the Oath Keepers mentioned in this piece, it doesn't seem they are a threat to freedom, although it also doesn't seem that they're defending it either. It seems as though they're largely looking for something to do, but the possibility of standoffs with the government makes an organization like this one to be viewed with skepticism rather than heroically, especially since the data shows that more Americans have been killed on US soil by right-wing extremists than by terrorists (from Politifact). That's a slim and subjective margin, but the overall comparison between gun deaths and deaths in terrorist attacks is neither slim nor subjective, it is staggering. In 2006 for example, 665 TIMES more Americans were killed by guns than by terrorists. Not 665 more, 665 TIMES more (from Vox). Nothing free or secure about that.
Suicide Prevention to Boot
From Laura in Mississippi comes a report about the role of guns in suicide. Suicide is generally an impulse decision, and therefore having the means to commit suicide readily available make it more likely that people act on this impulse (from the Brady Campaign). It is tempting, though a bit callous, to say that people who plan on killing themselves will do so with or without guns, just as it is tempting to say criminals will commit crimes without guns, but most people don't have bottles of poison or nooses just sitting around for moments like these. However given the abundance of guns, it's much easier to find one and use it to take your own life.
All of this data leads to a very clear and simple conclusion: limiting guns saves lives. It may not prevent crime, and it certainly will not save all of the 30,000 Americans who are killed or take their own lives with guns each year, but it will make a huge difference. We can make save lives with just a little bit of rationality and common sense.
Like a Miniature Buddha Covered in Hair
Doing her best babushka impression is Clara! Hailing from Mississippi where she lives with her humans Steve and Judy, Clara definitely looks her age, but you'd never guess it by her demeanor. Despite being a bit long in the tooth and white in the facial hair, Clara is spry and feisty.
This picture is not unusual. Clara is a dachshund, and quite enjoys nestling under blankets and pillows. Last year for Halloween she dressed as a pig-in-a-blanket, and her humans must be extra careful when sitting on the couch as Clara may materialize from underneath the coziest blankets without warning. Big thank you to Steve and Judy for sharing Clara!!
Share Me Please!!
I think it has reached the point of begging, so I enlisted Uncle Sam. He wants you to share the (new and improved!) opt-in form!!!
Also, don't forget to share your feedback (and your dogs!) via the feedback form! Did you love this week's digest? Did you hate it? Let me know, please!
