Guns & Questions

Last week, in Las Vegas, the US recorded another in a series of heart-wrenching episodes of mass murder due to guns.

As expected, several elected officials duly expressed their condolences. There was much print and on-line discussion given to  examining the perpetrator's motive.

In the end 59 people lost their lives, including the perpetrator.

At this point, we know next to nothing as to why this individual had 22 guns in his hotel room.

Meanwhile, the NRA (National Rifle Association) as of the first half of 2017, had spent a record-breaking $3.2 million in lobbying efforts.  Among the things the NRA wants are:

. Hearing Protection Act, focused on silencers. Since the 1930's you have to pay a $200 fee to get one, and have a special background check, that could take months. If passed, this piece of legislation would eliminate these hurdles.

. Concealed Weapon Reciprocity Act, which would make all states recognize each other's concealed carry licenses. In effect, the lowest ranking state, in terms of ease of granting requests for concealed carry licenses, would then become the law of the land.

Quick questions: Why would any civilian gun carrier (outside of a law enforcement official) need a silencer? Why would you want to lower the national standard for obtaining a concealed carry permit to the lowest common denominator?

A few days after the Las Vegas incident, the New York Times published a graphic of the amount of NRA lobbying dollars that the top ten US senators and representatives have received in their careers. The total amount spent on these elected officials topped $43 million in the senate and $4 million in the house. The top five senators included:

. John McCain $7.7M
. Richard Burr $6.9M
. Roy Blunt $4.5M
. Thom Tillis $4.4M
. Cory Gardner $3.8M

The top five representatives included:

. French Hill $1.0M
. Ken Buck $800,000
. David Young $707,000
. Mike Simpson $385,000
. Greg Gianfonte $344,000

Question: What sort of influence do you think the NRA's efforts have had with these elected officials, and others like them, resulting in a lack of a coherent gun control policy in the US?

The number of mass killings in the US since 1984 reads like a sad litany of our inability, as a nation, to proactively address the issue of gun violence. The total number of individuals killed in these 16 instances alone was 526. Hundreds more were injured.

1,500 Mass shootings in US since Sandy Hook/Graphic VOX News

Unfortunately, these are only the major mass killings, which get national news coverage. It's just the tip of the iceberg.

According to Mass Shooting Tracker (MST) there were 372 mass shootings in the US in 2015, which killed 475 people, and injured 1,870. MST defines a mass shooting as "a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant."

In January of 2016 the BBC News reported that of all the murders committed in 2012, 60% involved guns in the US, 31% in Canada, 18% in Australia and 10% in the United Kingdom.

According to the Small Arms Survey (referenced in a USA Today article shortly after the Las Vegas shootings), the US owns 42% of the 650 million guns owned by civilians worldwide. That's 90 guns for every 100 US residents.

The same article references how Australia has handled gun ownership. After a mass killing there, over a decade ago, the country enacted a series of changes. Civilians are no longer allowed to own rapid-fire guns. Gun ownership rules have been strengthened. There was also a national buy-back/turn in your guns effort. All these actions have resulted in a rapid decline of gun ownership. In 1994 in Australia, 16% of households owned guns. By 2005 that figure had declined to 6.2 percent.

In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Ishaan Tharoor wrote: "To those elsewhere in the world who look on aghast each time a shooting rampage rocks the United States, the answer [as to the cause] is blindingly obvious: guns... [In] no developed nation is it as easy or as accepted for citizens to acquire weaponry and ammunition capable of exacting mass violence. The state of Nevada, home to Las Vegas, is particularly lax."

Questions: Why does the US rank at the top of the world in civilian gun ownership? Why can't the US take the template that Australia has already created and pass legislation to implement solid gun control laws that result in significantly fewer guns owned and fewer mass killings?

After the Las Vegas shooting, President Trump noted that "we will be talking about gun laws as time go by." But on February 28th he signed a resolution which disapproved (stopped) the inclusion of Social Security Administration mental health records in federal background checks. President Obama had given the FBI authority to receive such SSA records. President Trump rescinded it.

Almost without fail, one of the first things anyone, including the current president, has to say about the perpetrators of mass killings is that they were not mentally healthy.

Questions: Knowing this, why did President Trump rescind the inclusion of mental health records as part of federal background checks for gun purchases? And what sort of "talking about gun laws as time goes by" is he referring to? 

It seems the time for constructive dialogue is now, not "at some point." 

There is more than enough evidence that clearly shows we, in the US, need to take action - sooner rather than later - before what happened in Las Vegas fades into just another part of the sorrowful litany of gun violence already in place in the US.

Postscript: As if to underscore the prevalence of guns in the US, today's local newspaper, on page A15 had an article about a suspect involved in two armed robberies, who is "likely" connected to other robberies in a neighboring state. Underneath this article is another with the headline "Gunman found guilty of 15 counts in long standoff with police." Directly across the page from these news stories was a 1/4th page ad from a sports center that included a sale on Ruger American 450 rifles as well as a Smith & Wesson M&P shield semi-automatic guns. On the very next page, A-16 (backing the gun ad) was a local news roundup which included a story on two suspects being arrested in an armed robbery. One of the suspects was only 16 years old. Another story in the same news roundup was about a shootout along Interstate 94, involving state police and a 24-year old suspect who is wanted for killing his mother in Alabama.

If you're interested in joining a movement that is focused on "reasonable solutions to address our nation's culture of gun violence," check out Mom's Demand Action. You can also follow them on Twitter at: @MomsDemand.
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If you'd like to take a few minutes to get to know some of the 58 victims of the Las Vegas killing, the New York Times has published a sobering listing that goes a long way to personalize these most recent victims of gun violence.