http://diegobasch.com/mass-shootings-political-correctness-and-magical-thinking
This article is an interesting read. In fact, it mirrors my own feelings circa 10 years ago or so. However, I have since come to understand government and society in a very different light – perhaps because I’ve now seen a longer chain of events play out in my life.
I would argue the first flaw in his thinking is that government needs to solve this problem, with the same binary outcome that you would fix a pipe. Drinking and driving is outlawed, and certainly doesn’t prevent 100% of such deaths.
Another point he makes is that you aren't very likely to be involved in a mass shooting, but that too is a straw man argument. You aren't likely to die in a plane crash either, but that doesn't remove the necessity of the FAA.
More importantly, I think he’s missing the social frustration that’s demanding action: the gun culture in the United States. For many people, this latest mass shooting is just a tipping point event arguing for changing the role that guns play in our society. I would argue that the casual nature that the government and society deal with firearms greatly contributes to gun violence. You can buy guns at Walmart, and you don’t need a license, even for semi-automatic assault weapons. I think most citizens would agree that we should treat gun ownership with at least the same degree of respect that we treat automobiles, and furthermore I think we can apply a few things from how you get your drivers license.
That leads me to suggesting the following courses of action:
- Let’s set a federal minimum age for firing a gun. You can’t drive a car or even a boat at age 10 and frankly, by the time you are 15/16 I think it makes you gain more respect earning that right.
- Let’s require you pass a competency test to own and fire a firearm. We make you know how close to a fire hydrant you can park, shouldn't we also require you demonstrate basic firearm safety?
- If assault weapons are legal (they weren't for a decade, remember?) then let’s put another competency test special to them – to illustrate we as a society view them differently than “regular guns”.
- Let’s restrict sales of firearms to gun shops, and license them. Should it really be easier to buy a gun than it is to buy liquor?
I’m not going to dive into the second amendment issues here, other than to say in my opinion these would not infringe on anyone’s reasonable access to firearms. Likely some of this would require a combination of federal and state by state legislation, possibly including ratification of the constitution.
All these changes would probably do next to nothing to fix gun violence in the immediate future. However, I’d argue that’s not the goal. The fact that we do none of these things tells our children we don’t take guns very seriously. Once the next generation of children has grown up with guns being treated at least as seriously as we treat cars, I believe the impact will be substantial. This is where government can and should play for the long arch of effecting a society and not look for a silver bullet legislative fix to this problem.
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