COMMENTARY: I own firearms that some Democratic presidential candidates and many people on the left think I shouldn’t be allowed to possess. While I tend to have a politically conservative interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, I also believe the Constitution is designed to allow the law to change with the times. I want people to be responsible with weapons so we don’t have to consider taking them away.
We don’t live in that society.
Absent federal government action, Corporate America is banning the open carry of weapons in stores. I support that. Too many zealots have been bringing rifles into stores to demonstrate that they can, to test reaction time, or to scare people.
Requiring background checks to purchase firearms at gun shows is also a no-brainer. The days when technology made such checks difficult in rural areas are gone. This should become law nationwide.
Some ideas for restricting access to firearms are more difficult for me.
Should we be allowed to own weapons designed for military combat? There are arguments on both sides of this issue. I could be convinced to outlaw the AR-15. I own one, which I bought in parts years ago. (It’s a machine, and like any other you can buy parts or one that’s already built.) I’ve never assembled those parts because that weapon’s firepower gives me pause. Every other gun I own has a non-military purpose that, at least for me, is its primary use. This one is not necessarily more powerful, but for me it feels different because it’s designed for war.
Regardless, I don’t think banning AR-15s will quell the violence that plagues the United States. And the proposal threatens to make things worse.
Some 7,032 murder victims were killed with handguns in 2017, according to FBI crime statistics. That compares to 1,591 who were killed with knives or other sharp instruments, 696 who were killed with body parts like fists, and 467 who were killed with blunt objects. Some 403 were killed with rifles including the AR-15, and 264 were killed with shotguns.
Our society is structured to pressure us into one of two sides so we can debate right and wrong, good and bad, and ignore nuance. We’re predictably debating AR-15s as if the outcome will change America.
I question why we’re so focused on firearms that are not used in the vast majority of gun deaths, leaving invisible the people most commonly killed with guns. While I generally believe black people matter to those who are proposing ways to take AR-15s off the streets, gun control has historically been used to uphold white supremacy, not dismantle it, and today’s proposals largely ignore the violence that’s taking black lives.
There will still be gun violence if we take away AR-15s. There will still be mass killings.
People will also still have powerful weapons to defend their homes, and even themselves against the government, should that ever become necessary. You can build quite an offensive weapon out of a shotgun, which I use for bird hunting, if you want.
I’m sick of us fighting over polarizing issues so stubbornly that the relational cost is immense and the policy victory small. In the end it’s hard to tell if we gained or lost. The cycle is self-destructive.
We need to reject systems that encourage us to divide and fight. Fox News, Bill Maher and dark money are all part of the problem. We have to pull back from the brink or the gun violence that plagues our nation may escalate into an all-out civil war. There’s no question in my mind that trying to take an entire class of weapons out of the hands of people who currently own them legally will lead to more violence and death.
Instead, we must focus on deeper issues like combating poverty and rebuilding a middle class that’s currently being erased. Desperate people are more likely to turn to crime. A society with healthier, more economically secure people has less crime.
Our society has long structured itself to hold down people of color. We also must work to dismantle systemic racism.
We must courageously confront our societal demons. Our ancestors built the United States on Native American genocide and African slavery. We have institutionalized economic poverty to control people. The dominant, predominantly white class is plagued by what James Baldwin called emotional poverty — the internal physical, mental, emotional and spiritual consequences of rationalizing unconscionable behavior against other people for centuries. Irrational defensiveness is one symptom. Mass shootings seem to be another.
I doubt our collective willingness to engage in such self-examination, but I fear we’re headed toward civil war or societal collapse if we don’t. The United States is changing, one way or another.
Genuine self-examination would take us to an obvious starting point: The president must go. He is inciting violence with his rhetoric and shares responsibility for white supremacist terrorism, including the murder of 22 people in El Paso. Democrats need to prioritize what’s right over politics and impeach Donald Trump for crimes he’s committing while in office. Republicans need to find the moral courage to take back their party from a bullying, fake conservative and join Democrats in standing up for our society.
Trump is a symptom of what plagues us, not the cause. Impeachment won’t stop the bleeding, but it’s a step.
We must also take on the oligarchy. The wealthiest are content letting us fight over guns, abortion, same-sex marriage and health care. It keeps us busy while they erode the systemic protections built into our society so they can increase their profits. They bought the Republicans, then the Democrats, then the media. It’s all part of a machine that divides and controls, a machine born out of the emotional poverty that justified genocide and slavery, a machine that is growing more powerful daily.
We’ve all fed that monster— if not with our words, then maybe with our silence, and almost certainly with our dollars. We must all change.
The path forward will be difficult. But if we can’t confront core issues, debates about guns will do the opposite of what people who aim to stop mass shootings intend. Those debates will break us.
I’m devastated by the gun violence that’s taking our children. I worry about my daughter when she’s at school. I also worry about handing my daughter over to a future that forces her to pick up an AR-15 and fight. I want her to have the same freedoms and choices I’ve enjoyed. I want us to save our children’s future.