Blind spots of the American left and right

Two terrible massacres happened in the United States recently.

First, a Muslim terrorist of Uzbekistani origin ran over innocent cyclists with a rented truck, killing 8 people.

Then, a white American walked into a Texas church with a gun and killed 26 people.

Democrats and Republicans had very different reactions to both of these tragic events which expose their biases and hidden agendas. The Left, in response to Islamic terrorism, went straight to the defense as they were concerned more about Islamophobia than they were about the victims and their families. Their reflex after any incidence of Islamic terror is to immediately shriek that “this had nothing to do with Islam! Islam is a religion of peace!” Therefore, since they refuse to acknowledge the problem, they are completely unequipped to deal with the problem. They prefer to pretend that it just doesn’t exist.

The Right, on the other hand, correctly identified the attacker as a terrorist (meaning he acted upon a religious and/or political agenda). Their response was to call for harsher restrictions on immigration since they recognize the source of the ideology behind the attack. Rather than combating the ideology, their strategy seems to be keeping it outside their borders. Unfortunately, ideas can spread internationally so it seems like their actions may have a limited scope — but at least they’re a start towards protecting American citizens.

Then in the case of the American mass shooter, the Left correctly stated that America has a problem with gun violence. Other countries simply don’t see this kind of prolific violence to such an extent. They want to take action by making gun controls stricter and ban assault rifles altogether, seeing as they were designed for military use. Civilians really shouldn’t have access to this kind of deadly firepower because the purpose of having a gun is to protect yourself and others, not to deliberately take human lives.

The Right responded by saying that no law would have prevented this man from buying a gun — which I’ll grant is true. The man was a domestic abuser and he was dishonourably discharged from the Air Force, meaning by all rights he should not have been allowed to purchase a rifle. The AF accidentally forgot to enter his name into the database, so he wasn’t flagged and managed to slip through the cracks. However, Republicans are also saying that he was stopped by a good guy with a gun, proving why people need access to all kinds of guns (even assault rifles). They fail to mention that he was only stopped after he’d already killed 26 people. He was already driving away when the NRA instructor stopped him — this man they’re touting as a hero probably didn’t save any lives because the shooter had already finished the deed. Trump himself stated that gun control would have allowed hundreds more to be killed, despite that there were only about 50 people in that church. So it seems like their response to gun violence is to simply to throw up their hands and say, “Well, these things just happen sometimes… nothing we can do about it.”

Here’s the deal: what if both sides actually wanted to protect human life instead of scoring political points after massacres like these? Islamic terrorism is evil; gun violence is evil. It doesn’t matter who commits atrocities — we should try to stop them no matter what their skin colour, religion, ideology, nationality, etc. There are reasonable approaches to solving both of these problems, and the answer is not to sit around and do nothing at all, or worse, pretend that the problem isn’t even there.

In the case of Islamic terrorism, it must be acknowledged that it definitely has something to do with Islam. Any intellectually honest person recognizes that. The solution will likely involve arresting hate preachers within American borders, administering a values test to all new immigrants in order to block those with hateful and violent beliefs from entering, and combating radical Islam on an ideological level.

Regarding gun violence, there is no one ideology that binds American murderers together. The only thing they all have in common is their choice of weapon. It seems that the USA must focus on stronger enforcement of the laws they already have on the books, mandatory background checks (and the closure of loopholes where people can purchase guns online, at gun shows, and other places that don’t check), waiting periods, gun licenses and/or training classes, and the ban of assault rifles. They should also make efforts seize all civilian-owned assault rifles to minimize the chances that a criminal will be able to get his hands on one.

It’s so important to have the common goal of creating a better society and protecting human life. Right now, Democrats and Republicans are just fighting like cats and dogs, calling out each other’s double standards. That’s not solving any problems. Both parties need to look outside themselves in order to make the world a better place.