A Proactive Approach to Saving Lives

April 20th marked the 20th anniversary of the high school shooting in Columbine, Colorado that claimed 13 lives and wounded more than 20 people in 1999. This tragedy ignited fierce debate on school safety, gun control, and other methods of social control that many citizens felt could have prevented the shooting.

However, not all agreed that strict gun control was a proper resolution, and critics were quick to disparage increased gun regulation as crazed sensationalism, a sentiment carried by former Colorado Secretary of State, Vikki Buckley. She once declared in an NRA convention held after Columbine that “guns are not the issue. Hate, what pulled the trigger of violence, is the issue’’ [1]. She was met with raucous applause from supporters at the time, but despite recent reforms, massacre is now commonplace. Other school shootings have overtaken the infamy of Columbine and gun violence has occurred in other sectors. Regardless of a gun owner’s intentions to harm or not, gun violence claims lives every day. It is time to accept that guns are more useful as tools for violence and must be regulated accordingly to prevent further deaths. Thoughts and prayers are simply not enough anymore.

Columbine High School shooting survivors Sean Graves and Patrick Ireland at the 20th anniversary remembrance event. Photo: Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Gun control is commonly seen as a single step solution to remove all guns, when it is actually a multifaceted approach for reducing the risks posed by firearms. An effective approach to controlling gun use proposes:

· Reducing access to firearms for those who would hurt themselves and/or others

· Ensuring oversight of the marketing and sale of guns

· Insistence on mandatory gun training

· Requiring safe and secure gun storage

Implementing these factors could contribute to creating a culture of gun safety in the U.S. that would not harm the American people.

Gun-related deaths have become a rapidly spreading epidemic in the U.S. that is often met with failed reactionary tactics. From the beginning of 2019 until now, the U.S. is reported to have suffered up to 20,782 incidents of gun violence occurring in various locations around the country [2].

How many of these incidents were caused by guns owned illegally?

It is concerning to note that the Giffords Law Center has reported that “more than half a million firearms are stolen each year in the United States and more than half of stolen firearms are handguns, many of which are subsequently sold illegally” [3]. The significant number of illegal guns purchased encumbers the tracking of used arms with every gun-related incident. The lack of oversight in the sale of guns and lax storage methods available for guns have made it difficult to get an accurate estimate of illegal gun use. This is a crucial issue as most gun-related crimes are carried out by illegally owned firearms [4]. Without proper regulation in place to keep track of guns, the U.S. far too often receives information on illegal guns after they are used to some capacity or stolen.

Next question is, why must an owner of a legal gun care about gun control?

“ Everytown for Gun Safety. Accessed May 26, 2019.

https://everytown.org/issue/domestic-violence/.

A society with mainly legal guns is not particularly safe either given that the principal concerns pertaining to guns include suicide and domestic violence. According to the Pew Research Center, suicide has accounted for the most gun deaths in the U.S. since the beginning of 2010 [5]. Additionally, the possession of a gun in the home has been connected to increased cases of domestic abuse. The National Domestic Violence hotline has a special page on firearms and domestic violence which notes that the presence of guns increases the risk of homicide for women by 500% [6]. Fatal gun-related accidents occur with just the simple possession of a gun or using one for sport. Failure to reduce firearm access to those who would hurt themselves or spouses, and a lack of insistence on mandatory gun training have easily made guns a public safety concern for owners with legal guns.

If the United States is to continue its use of guns, then it must advocate for better gun control to reduce the societal cost of gun violence. Gun-related deaths could be avoided if caution is first exercised when issuing a gun rather than dealing with the consequences after. States with stronger gun laws, such as California, are often below the annual national averages for gun death.

Looking at the international community’s approach to gun control also shines a light on how effective it can be. Following the Port Arthur, Tasmania massacre that led to the deaths of 35 people, the Australian government responded by passing the National Firearms Agreement (NFA). This legislation banned shotguns, semi-automatic and pump-action weapons, as well as tightened requirements for licensing, registration, and the safe storage of firearms. The government also bought back over 650,000 firearms from gun owners. A study conducted by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center revealed that this legislation had a clear impact on suicide and homicide rates in the country. In the seven years following the NFA, the suicide death rate per 100,000 was reduced from 2.6 to 1.1; similarly, the homicide rate decreased from .43 to .25 [7].

As with any other potential weapons, there should be strong regulation in place to prevent detrimental misuse of it in society. The conversation on gun control must be reopened to preserve human life before gun violence in schools and other public spaces can trivialize it. To continue the conversation on gun control, follow IANSA’s Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence and support them in their mission to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons.

[1] “Charles Heson’s 1999 NRA Convention Speech.” Speech, Colorado, Denver, May 1, 1999. Accessed May 26, 2019. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4496147/charlton-hesons-1999-nra-convention-speech&start=877.

[2] “Gun Violence Archive.” Accessed May 24, 2019. https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/.

[3] “Statistics on Gun Trafficking & Private Sales.” Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. June 09, 2016. Accessed May 26, 2019. https://lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-traffickingprivate-sales-statistics/.

[4] Heritage Foundation. “Fact Sheet: Gun Violence.” The Heritage Foundation. Accessed May 26, 2019. https://www.heritage.org/firearms/report/fact-sheet-gun-violence.

[5] DeSilver, Drew. “Suicides Account for Most Gun Deaths.” Pew Research Center. February 07, 2014. Accessed May 26, 2019. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/05/24/suicides-account-for-most-gun-deaths/.

[6] “Firearms & DV.” The National Domestic Violence Hotline. Accessed May 26, 2019. https://www.thehotline.org/resources/firearms-dv/.

[7] Hemenway, David. The Australian Gun Buyback. Report. Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard University. https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1264/2012/10/bulletins_australia_spring_2011.pdf