October 3, 2017
Once again, we enact the ritualistic performance of shock and grief that always follows horrific massacres like the one in Las Vegas; although mass gun violence has clearly lost its capacity to shock us through numbing repetition. Politicians invoke the talismanic phrase that the slaughtered are in their “thoughts and prayers,” knowing that once the news cycle has moved on, so will they. Those of us who angrily demand action on common sense gun control while blinking back tears are told that we are “politicizing tragedy,” as if the decision to allow civilians unfettered access to weapons of war is not itself a political act. We are told that “now is not the right time” to discuss gun control, but given that we now average one mass shooting per day in this country, by that metric it will never be the right time (Source: “Gun Violence in America, explained in 17 maps and charts,” by German Lopez, Vox, 10/2/17).
Gun violence is unique among intractable American problems in that we don’t even attempt to solve it. As many have pointed out, it took a mere three days after 9/11 for us to declare war in Afghanistan. In the wake of every plane crash or train derailment, the NTSB reviews the black box to determine the cause in order to prevent a recurrence. Yet, we act as though we are helpless to prevent the carnage one man with a high-powered weapon can cause. Of course, if the perpetrator is a Muslim or an African American, a mass shooting becomes fodder for demagogues who wish to expand racial and religious profiling; but there is never a discussion about curtailing access to weapons whose only purpose is to kill the greatest number of people as quickly as possible.
Those who decry gun control point to the Second Amendment as enshrining their right to buy and stockpile an arsenal of weapons of war in the name of “freedom.” They fail to understand that no freedom enshrined in the Bill of Rights is completely unfettered. Civil society cannot endure unless we balance the rights of individuals against the rights of society at large. Even the exercise of our First Amendment right of expression is subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions. Gun right absolutists must recognize that, even under the expansive reading of the Second Amendment in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (S.Ct. 2008), the majority did not prohibit common sense regulation. Although the majority held that the Second Amendment protected an individual’s right to bear arms, it explicitly said that the right was not unlimited (Heller at 56). Thus, Congress’ craven failure to close the gun show loophole, or to limit access to guns by those suffering from mental illness, those with a history of domestic violence or even by those on the NO-FLY LIST, defies logic, reason or any regard for human life.
In contrast, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this week on a bill legalizing the use of gun silencers (Source: “House to Vote on Gun Silencer Legislation This Week,” by Gabrielle Levy, U.S. News & World Report, 10/2/17) even though it was the sound of gunfire that prevented the death toll in Las Vegas from being even higher. It is ironic that politicians want both to silence those of us who demand reasonable protection from weapons of war and the sound that might warn of us of an impending slaughter. These people, who profess to represent us, are nothing more than callous lackeys of the death merchants of the NRA. They are the ones who need to be silenced.
#LasVegas
#Guncontrol