Leading the world in shootings
By William A. Collins
Following that dark opening-night screening of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, it’s time to contemplate yet again why America’s troubled young men kill so many more people than their counterparts in the rest of the world’s more affluent nations.
Most wealthy countries don’t care much for handguns. They have better things to do. And in Europe, fading tribal memories dating back to the lawless Middle Ages have, at last, largely receded.
Americans are different. Our most hazardous epoch is more recent. Popular Western movies and TV dramas refresh robust memories of the great frontier. While that heritage is fading, it still grips many of us. After all, our voluntary and involuntary immigrant ancestors were bold and strong. They survived death-defying trans-oceanic trips, some of them as cargo.
Perhaps our frontier complex can explain why so many Americans believe that to properly protect ourselves today, we need guns.
I don’t get it. Reality has changed. If there’s a Native-American menace today, it’s casinos. Duels are out. Slavery ended 150 years ago.
But guns have sunk truly pernicious roots into our culture. In the first half of 2011, nearly 700 Americans perished in murder-suicides. About 90 percent involved a firearm. Overall, we bump ourselves off at the rate of 30,000 per year using bullets. A total of 110,000 of us are killed or wounded. Plenty of those wounded are in bad shape too, with gunshot victims accounting for 15 percent of all spinal cord injuries.
The requirement for a background check reflects the desire by most governments to tamp down today’s flood of guns and epidemic of shootings. The National Rifle Association, which is generously financed by the gun industry, strenuously opposes this civilized public safety policy. That dark duo has many supporters.
Take Alaska for example. Sixty percent of Alaskan households own guns, and 20 out of every 100,000 Alaskans die annually from gunshots. In Hawaii, by contrast, only 10 percent of families own guns. And bullets kill just three out of every 100,000 Hawaiians each year.
Yet the dark duo still argues that the solution to too many gun deaths is to make sure that even more Americans obtain these deadly weapons. It has persuaded the U.S. House of Representatives to force states with restrictive handgun laws to honor concealed-weapons permits from Wild West states when their residents come to visit. Sort of like drivers licenses.
One state that won’t care is Florida. In 2010, the Sunshine State prohibited local governments from imposing any of their own restrictions at all on gun-toting, invalidating a host of existing municipal ordinances.
As usual, ironies abound, especially since Tampa has banned water pistols from the streets outside the upcoming Republican National Convention. Thus you will be able to pack real heat out there, but not your super soaker.
Fortunately, the Secret Service is in charge inside the venue. Especially after the Aurora massacre, the GOP faithful will be lucky to get in armed with nail clippers. They’ll have to conduct their mayhem out front.
OtherWords columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor of Norwalk, Conn.
First let’s get some corrections out of the way; Guns and bullets do not kill anyone, people do. Just like a baseball bat, knife, frying pan, pipe and a host of other impliments that can and have caused serious physical injury or death. Our 2A rights were designed by men that understood the need for the people to be able to protect their person, family, property, community and country from criminal acts committed by individuals, groups or our own government. Background checks do not protect anyone. The Aurora shooter bought everything he had legally and he still violated the law. Everyone, to include Police Officers, Teachers, Judges and alike, were law abiding citizens right up until they committed an illegal act of violence or some other crime. Police Officers have a higher number than average of suicide, divorce and depression. But, the anti-gunners think they should be the only ones with guns. How does that work? They are humans and even with all the training they are still prone to all of lifes messy stuff like everyone else. When a crime is being committed at your house, do you think the police are going to be there in time to save you? My son dialed 911 a few months ago because he had an intruder in his apartment, he was put on hold and had to leave a message for them to call back. He left a message and then called me and I got there with my gun before they called back. Nice! A week after the Aurora shooting a 17 year old in China ran through the streets with a kitchen knife and killed 7 people. In case anyone doesn’t know, China does not allow anyone except the police and military to own guns. It was one of those high capacity knifes with an evil black tactical handle and a flash suppressor, pre ban of course. For every crime committed with a gun, I can come up with more than 50 other violent crimes committed using other tools of the trade. Truth be told, the percentage of people that have concealed carry permits and commit crimes is less than 5%. Gun owners are some of the most law abiding people I know. We feel a greater responsibility goes with gun ownership. Education and mutual understanding will go a long way to making our communities safer. Gun control is like trying to stop drunk driving by making harder for sober people to get a drivers license. How many people show up to the bar and drink for hours after work and then get into their vehicles and drive home? I think we should shut down all bars and only allow people to buy alcohol at the store, so they will take it home and drink it. Maybe that will stop so many people from getting killed by drunk drivers. Alcohol kills more people every year then guns do, hands down. It’s just not a good headliner for the evening news. Gun ownership and loosening laws are a result of the economic times and hardships in our country. There are some communities where their police departments have been shut down for budgetary reasons. So the nearest response may be 30 to 40 minutes or farther, away. what if the economy really tanks or there is more natural disasters? The police fled Louisiana during the floods, leaving people helpless against looters and gangs. Do you really think the police are going to leave their families at home unprotected during any of these aforementioned situations? These are just a few of the reasons more and more people are buying guns now days. Responsible, educated and trained individuals owning guns are an asset to our communities and way of life in America.
One can always look back at the statistics for murder suicides and say, “That’s why we elected to disarm the public and render it harmless against those rule us.”
-While waiting in line at the FEMA camps.
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