By Ray Mueller
Hardly a day goes by when there isn’t a mass shooting somewhere in the United States – more than 250 of them already in 2019. In what tends to draw widespread media attention, a “mass shooting” means there were at least four victims.
No place seems exempt from such shootings by someone who has “a score to settle” with whoever happens to be at the place – anything from a personal dispute to racial, ethnic, or religious hatred. There have been mass shootings at religious facilities, government buildings, businesses, stores, entertainment venues, outdoor festivals, and, most shockingly, schools in all but a handful of states in the past two decades.
Although statistics lag by a year or more and vary according to who does the tabulating, the total number of people who died by shooting (that includes suicides) in the United States during a recent 38-year span was 1.15 million. That’s one for every 300 residents.
The annual total of shooting deaths is about 38,000. In addition, there are about 85,000 non-fatal shootings, leaving many of the victims with lifetime scars. An average of 46 children are gunshot victims per day in the United States.
While many private organizations beg to stop this slaughter, the reaction of federal and state legislators is one of “hands off.” They hide behind court interpretations of the “right to bear arms” notion that was formulated more than 200 years ago with a far different meaning and application at the time.
Perhaps the gutless federal and state legislators fail to act on reducing the firearm slaughter because there are apparently more than 44 million owners of well over 300 million firearms in the United States. A great majority of those owners use their weapons properly.
Many legislators fear reprisal at the polls if they would do something to restrict the possession of firearms. And there’s the simplistic argument that “if guns were outlawed, only the outlaws would have guns.”
Yes, it would be difficult to identify who should not own or possess firearms. This would require tremendous public resources.
In the meantime, we seem to be content with the current situation. In the wake of every mass shooting, there are cries to take some action.
After they offer “thoughts and prayers” as a face-saving solace, the typical response of legislators to calls for reform is “now is not the time” to think about this. They justify this on the grounds of having “respect” for the families of the most recent victims.
Fortunately, the local area has been spared a mass shooting so far. How long will that be true?