There are several popular arguments that come up all
the time when talking about gun control.
I am not interested in getting into arguments about weapons
definition of assault weapons ("that's not automatic; it's only
semi-automatic", "there's no such thing as an assault rifle").
Those arguments seem to exist solely for gun enthusiasts to show disdain for
others, and anything where we are focusing on looking down on other people is
counterproductive.
There are guns that make it possible to be much
deadlier much faster, and they are often involved in headline grabbing big
shooting incidents that drive the conversation, but it's probably the wrong
conversation.
That's good, because going there will next result in
very fatalistic arguments: "You can't stop them; they would just find
another way." Keep that in mind when it comes to suicides, because that
comes up a lot there too, and it's a lie. Sometimes all you need to do is stop
someone in one moment to get them to their next moment. Don't lose track of
hope, because we will need it.
The most common legislative reforms mentioned are
universal background checks and a ban on assault rifles. Most gun deaths are
not committed with assault rifles. It's the children playing with the handgun
that is supposed to be there for protection, or maybe the rifle that is used
during hunting season. It's accidents when hunting season is celebrated with
beer. It's the argument that breaks out between relatives. It's the escalating
domestic abuse. It's someone taking offense to another driver, or loud music,
or someone texting in a theater. The mass shooter in our mind was specifically
planning on killing; a lot of these deaths - even the ones that aren't
accidents - still weren't that intentional.
That's going to be harder to fix by legislation.
Even if you focus on safety training, where do you put it? As a part of a
school curriculum? Lots of people will object to that, and you don't get those
who are already adults. License people for gun use, including passing a test on
gun laws and safety? There are already so many people with guns out there.
I have a friend who works a suicide hotline, and she
learns a lot through that. One big problem is that often when you have a
suicidal member of a household, and you ask the other family members to at
least temporarily remove the guns, they won't do it. It is their right to keep
guns! Well, I guess it is also their right to lose a family member, but even
for my most difficult family members I know what I would do and give up to keep
them alive, and I can't comprehend that you wouldn't find somewhere else for
the guns.
We are not always sound in our decision making about
guns. For those who are more against guns, there can be a strong emotional
revulsion to the associated violence, where they do not understand that it can
be reasonable to enjoy guns and want to have them around. For those who love
guns, it can become so entwined with identity that any attempts at changing the
status quo can feel like a personal attack. Neither attitude is helpful.
My thoughts go in three directions on this, and it
will not be practical to explore all of them today. I'm not sure how long it
will take to get there, but we will be looking at background checks, and
racism, and mental illness, and how we talk about things, and interpersonal
violence and sexism and toxic masculinity, maybe not in that order.
Look, if the answers were simple we would have fixed
everything already.
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