Tag: firearms

Vote for Democracy #14

your vote and gun safety

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

It’s another sad “day after” here in the United States.

Yesterday, a 14-year-old student, just a few weeks into his high school years, opened fire at Apalachee High School in Georgia with an AR-style assault weapon, killing two students and two teachers and wounding nine others. The school resource officer (police officer assigned to the school) confronted him and he surrendered and was arrested. It’s already been announced that he will be tried as an adult.

Only in America.

It’s telling that I have already written about guns and violence three times in the prior 13 posts, after the mass shooting at Donald Trump’s rally, on Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declaring firearm violence a public health crisis, and on political violence.

It was good that during the Biden presidency there was a bipartisan gun safety bill passed and signed into law, but there is much more to be done that has widespread public support. Stronger universal background checks. Age restrictions for gun ownership. Safe storage rules. Red flag laws, which remove firearms from places where there is a risk of violence or mental health difficulties. Stronger laws against gun trafficking. Banning ghost guns which do not have serial numbers. Restrictions on carrying guns in public, both openly and under concealment. Banning military-style assault weapons, such as the AR-15, which are designed to kill people as quickly and brutally as possible. Banning bump stocks and large-capacity magazines. These laws need to be national to avoid what we have now, where guns, gun accesories, and ammunition get into a state with stricter gun laws from neighboring states with more lax laws. For example, my state, New York, has much stricter gun laws than our neighbor, Pennsylvania. The teen-aged perpetrator in the Buffalo supermarket mass murder, who lived in my county, purchsed large clips of ammunition from Pennsylvania becuase New York only allows clips up to ten rounds.

The shooting in Georgia is even more tragic in that it could have been prevented. As an eigthth-grader, the student had allegedly threatened a school shooting online and there was an investigation but no action. More immediately, that morning, there was a telephone threat received of a series of five school shootings, beginning with Apalachee. This child was suffering from mental illness and did not receive treatment that would have helped him and prevented him from gaining access to his father’s gun and killing and injuring people.

I do not agree with the decision to try a 14-year-old as an adult. Adolescents, especially young adolescents, do not have the brain development and judgement of adults. They also aren’t as able to recognize changes that may be symptoms of mental health problems. Yes, this is a horrible crime, but it was carried out by a mentally ill child. Charging and trying him as an adult does not make him one.

After these tragedies, there are always calls for “thoughts and prayers” for the victims and affected communities. There are often calls for action in terms of legislation, but these seldom make it through legislatures.

This post is part of my Vote for Democrary ’24 series to remind all eligible US voters to look at local, state, and national candidates’ position on firearms and public safety and only vote for those who will stand up for protecting public health and safety. While we certainly want to prevent murder, we also want to protect people from taking their own lives, which is the most prevalent kind of gun death. The vast majority of Americans, including gun owners, want these protections in place.

Vote as if your life and the lives of your loved ones depend on it.

It may literally be true.

Vote for Democracy ’24 #12

a mass shooting with a difference

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

Yesterday evening, there was another mass shooting in the US.

As I have done in previous posts, I use the Gun Violence Archive’s definition of mass shooting, four or more victims injured or killed, not including the shooter.

The shooter used an AR-15-type semiautomatic weapon. He was 20 years old and was shot and killed.

One victim died immediately at the scene, two were critically injured, and one was injured but able to be treated and released from a nearby hospital.

The difference, of course, is that the one who was injured but not critically is former president and current candidate Donald Trump, making this mass shooting an assassination attempt. The shooter was shot and killed so quickly because the Secret Service had expert marksmen on hand overseeing the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooter was on a rooftop, about 150 yards from the platform where Trump was making a speech. He was killed before he could exact a large death toll, like the largest mass killing to date in the US, the Las Vegas, Nevada, music festival shooting in 2017, where a gunman killed 58 and injured 546 shooting from the 32nd floor of a hotel.

At this point, the shooter’s motive and mental health status are not known. An investigation is underway and will probably take months to complete. The Secret Service did an admirable job getting Trump covered, off the stage, and into a vehicle to bring him to the hospital.

As I wrote about here, Trump has a long history of violent rhetoric. It’s ironic that he is now himself a victim of what is most likely political violence. He, along with many Republican lawmakers, also has long opposed most gun safety measures.

President Biden very quickly condemned the shooting and all political violence. He has repeatedly called for a ban on military-style assault weapons, such as the one used in this shooting, renewing a measure that he helped pass as a senator in 1994 and which was in effect for ten years before it expired.

When choosing for whom to vote, whether for president, Congress, or state and local officials, look at their positions on firearm policies, such as registration, background checks, magazine size, red-flag laws, and what weapons should be available for ownership by the general public.

Are they prioritizing protecting public health, as our current Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, has?

It’s sad that, if yesterday’s mass shooting had not been at a Trump rally, it would have been a local news story, with perhaps a short segment reaching national news broadcasts. One person shot dead is so sadly common that most people don’t notice. Most gun deaths in the US are self-inflicted, a fact that escapes most people’s notice.

I wish I could say that I thought this shooting would bring the country together against gun violence when so many other horrific shootings have not, but I can’t muster that hope.

Please, America, prove me wrong.

Vote for Democracy ’24 #10

on gun violence and public health

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

Today, the United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared firearm violence a public health crisis. His advisory gives an overview of gun violence, contributing factors, and impacts on communities, children, adolescents, and families. It concludes with a section on taking a public health approach to reducing risk and preventing gun violence.

I’m grateful that Dr. Murthy has called out the scourge of firearm violence in the United States and framed it in the context of public health. While mass shootings are surely horrific and generate the most press coverage, most gun deaths and injuries in the US are either self-inflicted or among families/communities. The trauma they cause lasts for years. It is very much in the interests of public health to work to avert as many instances of gun violence as possible.

One of the criteria I use in evaluating candidates is their views and record on gun safety and violence reduction. Two years ago today, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which has increased prosecution for gun trafficking, made more firearm sales subject to background checks, and funded community safety programs and red flag law initiatives. President Biden favors further tightening of background checks and a ban on civilian ownership of military-style assault weapons. By contrast, Donald Trump spoke at the National Rifle Association convention in May and promised to roll back any of the Biden administration initiatives on guns.

It is also important to look at the views about guns expressed by candidates for Congress, given that national legislation is the clearest way to protect people and communities. The Supreme Court has overturned executive orders and state level laws that were meant to promote gun safety but national law is likely to be more durable.

In a first for a presidential candidate, due to his 34-count felony conviction in New York, Trump’s firearms license has been revoked. This would stay in effect during any appeals process. Of course, as a former president, the Secret Service protects him at all times. Still, I find it sobering that he is legally barred from owning a gun. If he is not trustworthy enough to own a gun, how could he be trustworthy enough to decide important matters about public safety – or anything else?

It’s different in Japan

When I wrote this post about gun violence in the US yesterday, I intended to move on to another topic, but news of the assassination of former Prime Minister Abe of Japan broke here this morning and I was struck by the stark contrast in the level of gun violence in the two countries.

Part of the terrible shock to the Japanese public is that shootings are incredibly rare there. Firearm possession in Japan is highly regulated. Apparently, the gunman had built his own weapon, evading the strict process in place.

Last year in Japan, there were only ten shootings, eight of which were connected to the yakuza, an organized crime network. There was one death and four injuries from gun violence.

That’s 10 shootings in a country of 125 million people.

In a year.

The United States has 332 million people. I can’t even find the statistic for the number of shootings, but the statistics from Gun Violence Archive record 45,034 deaths and 40,585 injuries from guns in 2021.

Yes, America. Guns are the problem.