The Gun Control Movement Has Reached a Tipping Point and That’s Good for America
The gun control movement has reached a tipping point. On Wednesday, March 14, 2018, about 1 million students joined in a nationwide walkout to mourn the dead and to demand gun control. The Texas Church massacre, the Las Vegas massacre, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre and the many other shocking gun massacres, that have recently taken place across the country, are driving a mass movement for gun control in America.
The gun control movement is a public safety and an anti-corruption movement. The NRA and their political allies spread lies that no gun control and more guns make us safe. Alaska and Louisiana, with the most lax gun laws in America, each have an annual gun death rate of about 19 per 100 thousand. Hawaii and Massachusetts, with the most strict gun laws, have about 3 deaths per 100 thousand. Gun control is good for America because it saves lives and prevents horrific injuries. If we want gun control, we need to speak out against the lies and corruption of the NRA and the politicians who support it.
The gun control movement is a democracy movement. Many of the most common gun control proposals have at least 66% to 90% public support. The NRA claims to have almost 5 million members, which would be less than 2% of Americans. With the support of the weapons industry, the NRA has stolen our democracy by funneling hundreds of millions of dollars into the hands of corrupt politicians, most of whom are Republicans. Republican politicians who oppose all gun control care more about NRA money than they care about the safety of the American people. If we want gun control, we have to defeat these corrupt politicians at the ballot box.
One goal of the gun control movement is to make Americans more safe by reducing easy access to guns and ammunition. This has already been accomplished in states like Massachusetts and Hawaii. Australia and Ireland have stopped gun massacres for decades by passing common sense gun controls. Laws requiring background checks, waiting periods, mental fitness, lack of a criminal record, licensing, minimum ages and safety training, that have been upheld by the Courts, reduce easy access and save lives. Bans on assault weapons, high capacity magazines, semi-automatic weapons, bump stocks and other modifications that make semi-automatic guns automatic, hinder the availability of especially lethal weapons commonly used in gun massacres. We know how to stop gun massacres and to make people safe.
The gun control movement will likely be successful if it forcefully demands universal background checks for buyers of guns and ammunition. About 75% to 95% of Americans favor these universal background checks. Under current law, individuals can buy guns at shows and from individuals in “private sales” without any background checks. Furthermore, ammunition sales are almost entirely unregulated at the federal level and are largely unregulated by most states. As a result, criminals who illegally own guns can buy ammunition without limit online or at retail stores. The crazed killer in the 2012 mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, which left 12 people dead and 58 injured, bought his ammo online. The NRA and corrupt Republicans have successfully prevented efforts to require universal background checks for years. The American people finally seem to be fed up with gun massacres.
Banning military style assault weapons is a good issue for the gun control movement. About 60% to 66% of Americans support banning the sale of semi-automatic military assault weapons. The United States successfully enacted an assault weapons ban in 1994 that expired in 2004. Because these assault weapons have proliferated, and can be legally modified to operate automatically with bump stocks, they are the weapon of choice for mass murderers who want to engage in gun massacres. The Las Vegas shooter, for example, killed and injured over 550 people using a legally purchased assault weapon with a bump stock. Most machine guns and other automatic weapons were banned in 1934. Only a tiny minority of Americans have or want military style assault weapons. They are not needed or designed for self-defense. If we work persistently to ban military assault weapons, it is likely that we will eventually succeed.
The gun control movement is an opportunity for Americans to work for public safety and for democracy. Anti-choice activists, who have effectively worked to hinder access to abortion at both the state and the federal levels, are a good organizing model for the gun control movement. At the federal level, citizens can work to defeat Trump and other Republicans who are in bed with the NRA. Efforts to achieve meaningful gun control at the federal level are not likely to be successful so long as Trump and the Republicans are in power. Nonetheless, there are many opportunities to enact gun control laws in state legislatures and through statewide referenda and ballot initiatives. Where obstacles are insurmountable at the state level, there are often opportunities to advance gun control ordinances at the local level.
Gun control is an important response to people who have a sick fascination with guns and killing. Although not everyone who owns a gun is sick, many sick people enjoy the power to kill that comes with a gun. There are far more than 100 right-wing militia groups in the United States who have armed themselves in preparation for war. Many of these groups, which are predominantly white and male, simmer with racism and sexism. As was demonstrated by the Oklahoma City Bombing, right-wing gun nuts festering with hatred are not good for America.
Shocking gun massacres are driving support for more strict gun control. Just as the Black Lives Matter Movement has successfully organized around recurring police shootings of unarmed black and brown people, the gun control movement can build increased support for gun control with each illegal shooting and with each gun massacre.
