photograph courtesy ronnie chua / dreamstime
Editor's Note: On July 4th, a day when Americans celebrate their chance to enjoy "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," yet another man with a gun fired upon a crowd of men, women, and children gathered to watch a holiday parade in Highland Park, Illinois. At least seven people were killed, more than 20 injured. When our managing editor wrote this column last month, for the July issue of our magazine, his prediction came unfortunately true.
There will be a mass shooting in the United States this month. Actually, there will be multiple mass shootings in this country before July turns to August. Through the end of May, there had been more than 230 such tragedies, more than one incident per day in which at least four people were shot. This is a condition in America — here in 2022 — that separates our country from every other developed nation on the planet. And the fever will continue to damage and destroy until those in positions of authority — our legislative branch — address the one common link between every last one of these atrocities: guns.
I have a good friend who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. So my heart did some racing (briefly, thankfully) on June 1st when news broke of a mass shooting at a hospital in that city. But once I knew I didn’t know a victim . . . I returned to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Life in America. It’s great . . . until you’re randomly shot and killed.
Where do we start? How do we save the lives now destined to be lost in a spray of gunfire? Assault weapons must be banned from public purchase. Period. An AR-15 — used to slaughter children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas, in May — is designed solely to massacre. It has no “sporting” purpose, no value to ethical hunters or target-shooters. This is the first and easiest step to eliminating that “spray” of gunfire.
Cars kill people. But they’re not designed to kill people. Knives kill people, but not dozens of people in the span of seconds. Narcotics — the kind that can kill — are regulated and prescribed under laws. Only rapid-fire guns — weapons of mass destruction — destroy lives with the indiscriminate fury we saw recently in Buffalo and Uvalde.
Secondly, let’s show as much care with the use of guns as we do with the use of automobiles. Drivers under the age of 25 must typically pay a daily “young renter” fee to get behind the wheel of a rental car. Yet 18-year-old boys got their hands — legally — on assault weapons to commit mass murder this year in Buffalo and Uvalde. Establish a minimum age — 25 would make a measurable difference — and reduce the chances of troubled youth slaughtering the innocent. (This would seem to accommodate gun-rights advocates who insist it’s the people who are the problem in this epidemic.)
Third, gun-trafficking must be treated by law enforcement with the same ferocity drug-trafficking receives. Those found to sell assault weapons illegally — this presumes, of course, they’re again made illegal — must be held criminally responsible when a gun they sell kills innocent human beings. Until we take communal responsibility for gun violence, the “isolated” incidents will continue . . . though they have never been, nor ever will be, isolated.
Do you happen to recall the Lester Street Massacre? It happened here in Memphis and spurred me to write on the topic of guns in this space . . . 14 years ago. The blowback was quick and ugly (though not considered or sophisticated). It staggers me to consider how many Americans have died by bullet(s) over these 14 years, and how many communities would appear blood-red on a map of mass shootings since 2008. To date, Congress is more afraid of the gun lobby than it is of a gunman showing up in their lobby. Until that changes, we will watch that growing number of mass shootings — more than one per day this year — climb while “thoughts and prayers” are uttered with impersonal, dismissive apathy.
Cars kill people. But they’re not designed to kill people. Knives kill people, but not dozens of people in the span of seconds. Narcotics — the kind that can kill — are regulated and prescribed under laws. Only rapid-fire guns — weapons of mass destruction — destroy lives with the indiscriminate fury we saw recently in Buffalo and Uvalde. Until those weapons are reduced and regulated, bloodshed in grocery stores and elementary schools will continue.
In early June, the Senate agreed to legislation that will invest in mental health care and the restriction of gun purchases by those considered at risk to themselves or others. Let’s call it a good start.
I’m convinced we’ll find a better way to reduce gun violence. My daughters’ generation sees the absurdity; they recognize the connection between tool and result. My hope, quite simply, is that enough of them live to occupy the seats of authority. Every life we lose to gunfire this month — and every month to come — is worth saving.