A week ago, while I was at work, a group of young high school students and their teacher approached me and asked if I would be interested in answering a survey for them regarding gun violence. I was glad to answer any questions they had for me.
The survey that they had for me held high significance, because the high school they were from is in one of the high crime areas of the South Bronx. Gun violence, among other things, run rampant in that area. During this past summer, only nine blocks away from their school, there was a shooting at a bodega on a Sunday afternoon, during peak business traffic. With circumstances such as that, only a fool could stand idly by.
Under their teacher’s guidance, they asked me question after question, and each question I not only answered, but elaborated on every answer I gave, so these students could show that there are people in their community who understand the gun control and gun violence debate.
Funny enough, not every question was easy to answer. When they asked about gun laws, I had to consider the gun laws in various states. New York has strict gun laws, but other states are much looser in regards to gun control. And in spite of New York’s gun laws, guns are still smuggled into the state, resulting in criminals getting their hands on firearms. I kept this in mind when I answered their question on whether or not retailers are at fault. Yes, retailers such as Wal-Mart should enforce background checks on people looking to purchase a firearm from them, as should any mom & pop retailer as well. However, in major cities, it’s more common than not for street-level criminals to get their guns on the black market. And while New York has shown its efforts to curb illegal gun sales, uphill as the battle may seem, gun control elsewhere varies from state to state.
And while gun crimes in urban communities may be the most broadcast on news stations, those aren’t the only communities affected by gun violence. According to Reuters, at least 2,000 people have been killed or injured in mass shootings since 1999. These include the Columbine High School Massacre of 1999, the Virginia Tech Massacre of 2007, the Fort Hood Massacre of 2009, the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting and the Aurora Theater Shooting, both in 2012, the San Bernardino Mass Shooting of 2015, and the Las Vegas Strip Massacre of 2017, with numerous other mass shootings that have taken place in that time span.
The difficult side of the gun control argument is that while there are criminals and psychopaths of every type with access to firearms, many legally-owned guns are used by responsible adults for home protection and self-defense. One particular case made headlines in 2012, when an off-duty FBI agent fended off three car thieves who were breaking into his car in Queens, NY. The agent fired one shot, wounding one of the thieves. There are other cases such as this that don’t grab the front page of newspapers as frequently, but it isn’t hard to find people who have relied on a firearm for defending themselves.
So while the 2nd amendment right has saved lives, the drastic increase in gun violence in America can’t be ignored. And while pundits continue to look at the inner cities as the frontline, it’s evident that the rest of the country is affected just as severely. On the podcast Reveal, the episode, “When Abusers Keep Their Guns”, highlighted the problem with ex-convicts being able to purchase firearms in Florida because of gun control laws not being enforced. The particular episode interviewed a survivor of gun violence, when she and her sister were both shot by her sister’s abusive ex-boyfriend, an ex-convict. The survivor’s sister died from a gunshot wound to her head. Legally, he shouldn’t have had the gun in his possession.
There is no clear cut solution to end gun violence once and for all. What it would take would be a cooperative effort from politicians, law enforcement, gun manufacturers, gun retailers, and the people of the communities affected, to curb the surge of gun violence in the U.S. Such a collective effort would take everyone willing to work on the same page, which has been historically difficult. It’s sad to say that 2,000 collective lives isn’t enough to convince the naysayers that something needs to be done, even if the message is delivered by teenagers with clipboards.
Culture Fodder 