Gun Control Needs a Rebrand
The debate on gun control has raged in the United States, fed in the last few years by intense media coverage of school shootings. These atrocities have fueled arguments that have been had in bad faith between two major parties – advocates for gun rights, and advocates for gun control. Both sides are backed by special interest groups who pump money and emotion into the debate.
The trite diatribe pedaled on either side are well rehearsed; “they’re going to take your guns away,” and “how many children have to die until you agree to gun control?” Some blame the guns, others blame the laws – but few blame the perpetrators.
The real intent behind both parties is almost always veiled, and the arguments continue to be had in bad faith. Everyone wants an improvement – but because of feared intent, neither group is willing to move an inch in either direction, and we see the same atrocity happening again and again. What can we do?
The concept of Gun Control needs a rebrand, and how we combat violence in the public needs a closer inspection. The CDC was stripped of power to research gun violence in 1996[1] – as such the emotions of politics have blacked out what should be a well-researched and emotionally divested problem. Both parties need to agree to return full funding on investigating gun violence conducted by the CDC, and to act on the data that comes from it. This is as close to “common sense” as anyone alive could ask for.
Both sides of the table need to stop arguing with straw men. In the United States, our culture was built upon the philosophy of inherent self-defense – the second amendment is the result of that ideology. In 1774[2] the British tried to disarm the American populace – a move that dictators have used throughout history to gain full control over their people. The right to bear arms and the right to defense of self “shall not be infringed”[3]; gun control advocates need to understand that no one on the gun rights side will come to the table so long as their rights to self defense are in danger.
Inversely, gun rights interested parties need to understand that while guns do not cause the tragedies, they do exacerbate them. Violence across the world is dolled out in many different ways (the homicide rate per 100,000 is 26 in Brazil, but 4 in France - .92 in the UK and 4.8 in the US)[4] – usually an end result of cultural norms and cultural strife – the violence we have in the United States is an end result of many factors – but it’s lethality is enhanced by loose gun laws. While a small hit to convenience might be seen as many to infringing on their rights – a serious discussion of convenience versus cost of life has to be had, and boundaries must be established.
The right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”[5] is also afforded to every citizen in this country. Gun rights advocates and gun control advocates need to understand and be willing to address the reality of gun violence within the United States. This means understanding where violence happens (most gun violence in the U.S. happens in cities – with a hand full of counties out of 3,142 contributing to over 1/3rd of gun deaths[6]). Who it is happening to (most gun deaths – over 2/3rd are the result of suicide[7]) and why it is happening. Then taking appropriate actions to try and curb those end results.
The tragedies are real – and while they continue to mount, simple things that we are already doing, and things that we can improve on will help to avoid them in the future. At the current time we’re doing decent at enabling self-defense but there isn’t much that we’re doing right about public safety – other than our background checks system. The National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS) utilized by federal firearm licensees (FFL) is a quick and efficient way to ensure that prohibited persons cannot obtain firearms from dealers.[8]
But that’s only through an FFL. At current time person-to-person sales do not require a background check. Gun sales person-to-person across the nation must be conducted through an FFL and the NICS system must be utilized. Strict penalties for avoidance of an FFL in interpersonal sales must occur (not to mention the avoidance of taxes person-to-person sales incur, which is an affront to the basic patriotic duty every citizen has.)
National reciprocity must be enacted for concealed carry. There are many well trained and law abiding individuals (concealed carry holders are statistically more law abiding than the police) throughout the United States who are inhibited to defend themselves or their community by bad self defense regulations. Coupled with that national reciprocity, a new standard of gun ownership and enforced training would arise – as standardization of self-defense policy would literally be law.[9]
A full review and restructuring of current gun laws[10], backed by CDC or independent researchers must be implemented – and then proactive steps to fix causal issues must be taken. For instance, we can infer that the Gun Free School Zones Act signed into law by George H. W. Bush has been a failure[11] – and that proactive steps to defend our schoolhouses must be taken to combat the violence being brought there rather than letting them remain as soft targets.
Campus carry, assault weapons legislation, the federal assault weapons ban and other laws all need to be reviewed and either reinforced or struck down. In the end we don’t need the concept of gun control as it is currently peddled – we need the concept of enhanced self-defense and public safety. Until both sides come to the table to address those two issues rather than fighting over their straw men, the status quo will continue to endure. It starts with realizing we need to see the full picture – and that we need to protect our rights at all costs.
[1]http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2013/02/gun-violence.aspx
[2]http://www.davekopel.org/2A/LawRev/american-revolution-against-british-gun-control.html
[3]https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment
[4]http://www.unodc.org/documents/gsh/pdfs/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdf
[5]http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
[6]http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/26/us-murders-concentrated-in-5-percent-counties.html
[7]http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/glance/tables/frmdth.cfm
[8]https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/nics
[9]https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/38?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22concealed+carry+reciprocity+act%22%5D%7D
[10]http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/beararms/statecon.htm
[11]http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/map_of_the_week/2012/12/sandy_hook_a_chart_of_all_196_fatal_school_shootings_since_1980_map.html
Steel1Actual, 20180225