Remember that time in 2012, when 20 six-year-old children were gunned down and murdered in their classrooms? That was pretty sad. Remember when Congress tried to figure out why that happened and then did something tangible to try and prevent another tragedy like it from occurring? Me either. Also pretty sad. Which is one reason I lay awake at night, asking myself the same questions over and over again.
What is it going to take for Americans to give a consistent shit about gun violence?
What is it going to take for us to stop politicizing the violent deaths of our own people and simply ask, “Why does this happen?”
When are we going to realize that this epidemic isn’t going to get better only with “thoughts and prayers”?
I couldn’t tell you. What I can tell you is that our government representatives are doing everything in their power to prevent anyone from even being able to try to find a solution.
Let’s back this discussion up to June 2015, when a white supremacist walked into a black church and brutally murdered 9 innocent worshippers. Seems like another kind of event that would prompt officials to maybe try and figure out how to stop this from happening again, right? Wrong.
Less than a month later, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee blocked a proposed amendment that would allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence in the US.
According to former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio),
“The CDC is there to look at diseases that need to be dealt with to protect public health. I’m sorry, but a gun is not a disease. Guns don’t kill people — people do. And when people use weapons in a horrible way, we should condemn the actions of the individual and not blame the action on some weapon.”
Now, if you agree that the CDC shouldn’t research gun violence because it isn’t a disease, let me direct you to the organization’s website, where they clearly state their goal is to prevent injury, harm, and death to Americans and our communities.
Next, here are some numbers to show you just how big of a problem gun violence actually is.
372 mass shootings that killed 475 people and injured 1,870.
Over 13,000 people killed by firearms (half of which were suicides)
Over 26,000 people injured by firearms
60% of all murders completed using a firearm
Around 300 million guns among the US population
And here’s a nice quote from BBC that really puts all these numbers into perspective.
“So many people die annually from gunfire in the US that the death toll between 1968 and 2011 eclipses all wars ever fought by the country. According to research by Politifact, there were about 1.4 million firearm deaths in that period, compared with 1.2 million US deaths in every conflict from the War of Independence to Iraq.”
All this violence and death suffered by Americans seems like it would be cause for concern, but like Joe Biden said, “Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.” Since 1996, The United States federal government has allotted exactly zero dollars towards gun violence research.
On the other hand, terrorism, which receives most of the media attention and Congressional funding, has caused an average of one death per year since 2002. Guess how much money the government spends on this? Over $500 million dollars per victim.
Now, I could get into the complicated history and politics behind why this is. I could tell you about how the NRA and gun manufacturers have successfully fostered a bizarrely possessive national culture around firearms, and how the US was not always so divided over gun ownership.
I could show you clear evidence that many politicians care less about their constituents than they do about getting reelected, and explain that most Republicans rely heavily on the financial and political support of the NRA to win their campaigns.
I could lay out the psychological phenomena that prevent voters from being able to see through all the propagandistic bullshit that shapes their viewpoints and prevents them from seeing reason or reality. I could try to understand why so many people don’t care about anything until it affects them personally.
I could lay out a comprehensive, long-term plan for reducing gun crime and violence in America over the next few decades, using other countries and existing independent studies as models. I could do all of that.
But, I’m not going to do anything. I'm going to ignore the numbers and the pain, the death, and the tragedy.
It's easy because it hasn't affected me yet.
Instead, I'm going to get sad for fifteen minutes whenever I read about the latest gun death or shooting, spend a few more minutes hoping and praying that this all gets better on its own.
Then I'll continue living my life.
Because that obviously seems to be working, right?
