Like most people, I'm appalled by the events of yesterday. I can't even imagine what those families must be going through...or maybe I can, and that's why I'm so appalled.
But I'm not shocked by yesterday's events. Such destruction happens far too often for me to be surprised by the ways in which humans can hurt one another, or by the ways in which people refuse to take any kind of responsibility for the unintended consequences of their political will.
A lot has been written about it, but I think my friend Eric's essay
The Guns of December most closely explains my own thoughts on the matter as it relates to gun control:
I want to hear from the other side. I want to hear someone--preferably a
card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association--tell me,
preferably to my face, not that they want dead children (because that would be a bit much and we all know that isn't true), but they're okay
with them. That they understand that's the price of their convenient
access to easy, deregulated weaponry and they're willing to keep paying
it. Keep in mind: I already know this to be true, I just want to fucking hear them telling me the fucking truth for a change.
I want to hear the words slip softly over their lips that they know
what they're paying and they're settled with that, their souls rest easy
in the hollow basins in their skulls. That they sleep at night with
this because they can.
When we make decisions on policy, there are consequences to that policy. And only those who are unserious about their franchise pretend like they bear no personal responsibility for those consequences. Because no matter how you slice it, when you choose an action - or in this case, choosing an inaction - you
also choose the consequences of that action or inaction. Which in this case, means lots more dead Judges, moviegoers, and children.
Let's take the legalization of marijuana as a personal example. I voted to legalize marijuana in this state. I believed that using marijuana in moderation was no worse than using alcohol in moderation, and as a general rule, I tend to favor
more freedom to act rather than
less. But that doesn't mean I didn't consider the unintended consequences. It's entirely possible that Colorado will end up with an entire cadre of stoners who, as a result of this law, choose to use marijuana in ways that are
not moderate, and in fact could only be considered extreme, i.e., smoking pot several times a day, every day, resulting in long-term cognitive impairment. That's absolutely possible. But the outcome of such extremity lies almost solely with the stoners. No one ever went into a school and beat some poor child to death with a baggie full of buds, so this risk is acceptable to me.
I don't think anyone can make a case that American's lack of gun control carries a similar level of acceptable risk, because the consequences of extreme behavior are so very, very severe.
Yes, yes, people kill people, blah, blah, blah. The fact of the matter is that when you're dealing with events like these, people kill people with
guns. And the scope of their destruction is increased exponentially by their access to firearms. There are other issues at play here, of course - the lack of mental health services, for example. But the bottom line is that a major contributing factor in these cases is America's lack of vision in this area. Do I believe the ownership of firearms should be illegal? No, I don't. But I think our culture's fetishization of guns has entirely too high a price in the area of unintended consequences. And what
really shocks me is that there are so many people who sincerely, honestly believe that those consequences are entirely acceptable.
____________
ETA: If we
are to have an honest, fact based discussion about the proper way in which to modify gun control in this country (seriously - I'm not holding my breath), then let us begin with
facts, those pesky things. I myself am particularly interested in numbers 1 and 9.
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