The recent mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, in which a
gunman killed 18 people and injured 13 others
before killing himself, is a reminder that gun
violence is an American epidemic. Seven years
ago, I explored the problem of gun
proliferation with the Pulse nightclub mass
shooting in Orlando, Florida.
In this land of the free, where gun-rights zealots tell us
that guns don’t kill people, people do, no one
wants to assume responsibility for the
proliferation of firearms. With each passing
massacre, we pass the buck. We deny our moral,
legal and ethical responsibilities. We blame
the gunman, and absolve ourselves.
A case in point is Edward Henson, owner
of the St. Lucie Shooting Center, a gun store. Henson, a retired New York City police
officer, sold the AR-15 military-grade assault
rifle and 9 mm pistol used by Omar Mateen to
kill 49 people and wound 53 in
the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
In a press
conference , Henson made his position clear: everything was done by
the book, so don’t blame him.
“I would like to avoid any political
issues and stick to the facts regarding this
case. An evil person came here and he
legally purchased two firearms from us,”
Henson said. “And if he hadn’t purchased it
from us, I’m sure he would’ve gotten them
from another local gun store in the area.
This man held multiple security licenses. He
had an armed and an unarmed license. He
passed a background check that every single
person that purchases a firearm in the state
of Florida undergoes.
“I have a business,” Henson said. “I
follow the
law, I don’t make the law.”
No
one suggests Henson broke the law: he has a right to choose to participate in the legal gun
industry that funnels firearms into the
population at a staggering rate. And Florida,
unlike states such as California and New York,
allows the general public to buy assault
rifles meant for warfare. Making it legal
doesn’t make it right, as someone must take
responsibility.
Surely the powerful lobby known as the National Rifle
Association bears some blame. According to
a 2014
report from the Violence Policy Center and Amnesty
International, the NRA “has received an
estimated tens of millions of dollars from the
firearms industry to support political
lobbying and firearm marketing efforts.”
The report continued that the pro-gun organization “uses
its financial capital to influence politicians
at the state and federal levels of government
to support or oppose specific pieces of
legislation despite the negative consequences
associated with it.”
The NRA rubs salt in the wound when it markets
to children, in an effort to replace its dwindling customer base of
aging white men. Further, the group encourages
parents to store firearms in their children’s bedrooms,
and rewrites
children’s fairytales with firearms figuring prominently.
Meanwhile, Congress is culpable when its members accept
money from the NRA, through
a system of legalized bribery that corrupts lawmakers, and
prevents them from passing any sensible gun
regulations, including gun bans for suspected
terrorists. In addition, Congress has restricted federal funding to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) for gun violence
research, severely limiting America’s ability
to address guns as a public health issue.
Moreover, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
bore responsibility in writing the
opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, a hat-tip to the
NRA worldview that the Second Amendment protects
an individual right to gun ownership,
rather than military duty. The NRA has
rewritten, if not whitewashed, an amendment that was used
to preserve slavery and control the Native Americans.
In a case of American exceptionalism no other country
would wish to emulate, the United States --
with less than 5% of the world’s population --
has as many as half of the world’s
civilian-owned firearms, according to a
report from the Small Arms Survey. Over
300 million guns is simply unsustainable.
Further, the U.S. comes in first place in guns per capita, and
has the highest firearm homicide rate of the
most advanced countries in the world.
And a
study published in the American Journal of Medicine in February
found that Americans are 10 times more likely
to be shot to death than people in other
wealthy countries. Our firearm murder rate is
25 times higher than 22 other developed
nations, and our gun suicide rate is eight
times higher.
When the shootings such as Orlando take place, we hear
empty platitudes from politicians who urge
prayer. This, as no one asks why a civilian
needs a military weapon whose only purpose was
effectively demonstrated by Omar Mateen. The
successful filibuster in the U.S. Senate to
force a vote on gun control is promising, but
only a first step. Our nation’s leader should
be running toward this problem.
Now is the time to take collective responsibility on guns
rather than observe a moment of silence.
This commentary was also posted on CNN.com.
