Crime Shows
We watch a lot of “crime” shows on TV. You know the ones: there was a crime in some familiar sounding small city in Wisconsin, or Iowa, or Ohio. The local police try to solve the crime, but can’t find the kidnapper, or the thief, or the murderer. But there’s always one detective (usually now fat, old and retired) who just couldn’t let the case go. He spends years, into his retirement, trying to solve the crime. And, if it’s a “good” crime show, he finally does. Justice prevails, the suspect goes to jail, and the victims gain “closure” and go on with their lives.
We learn the incantation of law enforcement: find someone with the motive, the means, and the opportunity. Motive: the driving force pushing the suspect to commit this unacceptable act. Means: does the suspect have access to the weapons, or the shovels, or the finances to pay for such a heinous act. And finally, opportunity: can law enforcement place the suspect at the scene of the crime. Put all of that together, and find some evidence proving each factor, and there’s a good possibility of conviction.
Shining City
The United States isn’t a lot different from other “modern” nations. Most folks here are doing OK: they have three meals, and a roof over their heads. They can take care of their families and get the material things they need and want. But according to the US News “quality of life” survey, the US ranks 20th in the world. There are the Scandinavian countries you would expect ahead: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland; in fact, almost all of Europe is ahead of the US, as well as South Korea and Japan. And, Canada is ranked at number 1.
Americans would argue that we are a “different” kind of nation – one with much greater diversity of race and culture, a nation still striving. We are a country where the nature is to “struggle” to improve. That creates a national dissatisfaction – folks all want to do “better” than they are right now. So ask them about their quality of life, and they’ll think about how much better they can do. Why do you think the “Mega-Millions” lottery is so popular?
And there is still a great deal of poverty in the US, both the urban poor and the often unseen rural poor. Our social safety net has a whole lot of holes in it. The supposed “richest” and “most powerful” nation in the world, Reagan’s tarnished “Shining City on the Hill”; has a plethora of excuses for not being quite so glowing.
110 Every Day
But only in America – only here – do we have the kind of recurring mass shootings of innocent citizens. Just yesterday there were three – two in California (Monterey Park, 11 dead, and Half Moon Bay, 7) and one in Iowa (Des Moines, 2). It isn’t outrageous anymore, it’s just a part of the “regular news”. We even hear the argument: “…well, only two were killed in Des Moines, and it was gang-related, so it shouldn’t really count as a ‘mass shooting’”. We figuratively stand on the bodies and debate the labels.
What’s so different about the United States? We take as a “run of the mill” day that 110 Americans die from guns every day. It’s January 24th: 2800 Americans have died since New Year’s Day from gun violence (Gun Violence Archive).
Excuses
Every nation in the world has dissatisfied people. Every nation in the world has people with mental illness. In fact, every modern nation in the world has video games, even violent ones, that kids play regularly. All of those are used as “causes” of America’s gun violence. After the really horrific mass shootings, we talk about getting better “mental health” to prospective shooters, as if they are registered like parolees.
Motive, means, opportunity: we all know the litany of crime. We can agree that someone who finds a motive to shoot a bunch of old people dancing to celebrate the Lunar New Year, is pretty screwed up. But other countries have screwed up people, and other countries DO NOT have our epidemic of violent gun deaths.
And we can see the “opportunities” all around us, no matter how “hardened” we make our schools, churches, government buildings or even parade routes. There always is a chance to kill innocents: at the restaurant, the ballroom, the night club; anywhere that people gather. But people gather all over the world – and they aren’t “infected” with our virus of death at the end of a gun barrel.
The Means
What’s the difference? It’s all about the “means”. Americans have more access to guns than any other nation in the world. Here, in our “Shining City”, there are 120 guns for every 100 citizens, almost double every other nation (World Population). We are awash in guns, up to our necks in guns, stuffed with guns. Guns are so easily available that any adult can walk into a store (there are at least five within a fifteen minute drive) and buy a gun, ammunition, and be “ready to go” (whatever that means).
We have a Second Amendment that our current Supreme Court interprets to mean everyone can have, virtually unregulated, a firearm. How can we be surprised that those of us with motive and opportunity choose gun violence as the means? We can lament the deaths, from the children of Uvalde to the senior citizens at Monterey Park, to the two more kids who died in “gang violence” in Iowa (as if “gang violence” somehow makes their deaths less important). But we can’t do a damn thing about it.
Oh snap: we can get our own gun. It’s kind of like getting Covid, so we don’t have to get vaccinated.
