Pandemic
It’s the stuff of a 1980’s science fiction movie. A virus appears, sickening millions and killing many. There is no easy solution, and the consequences of disease are so great that the economy closes down. Americans are subdued; furtive in masks, afraid of contact with each other, unable to even hug their families. But within months our modern science comes through with a vaccine, a way to prevent the virus from destroying our society.
It took longer than it did in the movies, but ultimately that “plot line” is exactly what happened here in the United States. And now we are within months, even weeks, of “getting past” COVID-19. It won’t be over, not for a long time if ever, but it will be controlled. We can get on with our lives. Those little league baseball games, my track meets, maybe even going to the theatre or a concert, are not too far in the future.
We as a society, solved the problem. It certainly wasn’t pretty – we allowed partisan politics to become a part of scientific common sense. Some turned to their own “experts”, clad in white jackets and endowed with medical degrees, to “prove” that the preventive measures were somehow just a political ploy. And a few, one even the son of revered hero, still speak out against the vaccines that will allow for our future.
But we got it done.
Epidemic
In the past two weeks we have been reminded of a problem we haven’t solved. Eight died last week from gunfire in Atlanta, at the hands of a deranged young white man. Ten died this week in Boulder, again a young white man. Last year, during the pandemic, it seemed like the epidemic of young white men going on blood rampages subsided. But even in the quiet of the lockdown year, 20,000 Americans lost their lives to gun violence. Another 24,000 used guns to take their own lives (WAPO).
There is a lengthy list of young white men who in the past years have taken this course (NYT). They have two things in common. The first is a mental illness, a derangement that makes them think it’s their “destiny” to kill. Just in Colorado alone their actions resonate with the names of their cities: Aurora, Columbine, and now Boulder.
The second is easy access to weapons capable of rapid fire. We all know the terms: AR-like weapons (ARmalite, not Assault Rifle), high-capacity magazines, ballistic-style body armor. If they had to shoot with a six-shot pistol, they couldn’t kill as many as quickly. That they can use a semi-automatic rifle (a “long gun” in police parlance) with greater fire power, quicker action, and easier aim means only one thing. The body count goes up.
And this is a problem we cannot solve. Or maybe the statement should be: we will not solve.
A Choice
It only took a month or so for the pandemic to get wrapped with the tentacles of politics. There are decades of political obfuscation encircling the issue of guns in America. Much of the rest of the world look at us in dismay. Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand: all faced the “mass shooter” situation, and all took serious affirmative action to control access to guns. They recognize that allowing this kind of violence is a choice, not an unavoidable “price of freedom”.
But in the United States, we continue to make it easier to access advanced weapons. Here’s just two examples. In Ohio the Governor just signed a “stand your ground” law, ultimately encouraging folks to use deadly force rather than avoid it. It’s the kind of law that gave legal cover to the killer of Treyvon Martin. And, if a background check takes too long, the gun purchaser is given “the benefit of the doubt” and allowed to have their weapon. We wouldn’t want to keep it out of their hands for more than the allotted time, would we? That’s the “loophole” the put a weapon in the hands of the man who killed nine in a Charleston, South Carolina church.
Our Solution
The “winning” argument in the United States right now is that the Constitutional right to own a weapon is more than just for hunting, sport, or personal protection. The argument now is that “we” need weapons to protect us from the government itself. And in order to try to “match” the government, we need the most advanced weaponry available, with only limited restrictions. It is surprising that there weren’t more in sight at the Insurrection of January 6th.
And so many have guns. And they carry them. There are places where the United States is a parody of the “Old West”, with folks carrying sidearms in the grocery store and Wal-Mart. They are “ready” to respond. The old National Rifle Association trope: “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” has become the “American Way” in dozens of states. But somehow it hasn’t stopped the blood epidemic of young white men losing their minds, and taking lives along the way.
It’s a problem we have determined NOT to solve.
