The Not So Great Society

It’s going on four weeks since the Newtown massacre, and the 24/7 news cycle has turned many times.   The massacre has been relegated to the back pages.  A recent newspaper dispatch marked the re-opening of Sandy Hook Elementary School in its new location.  Last week, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, herself a gravely wounded survivor of a mass killing in her home state of Arizona two years ago, visited the town to offer solace.

Media accounts of both events tended to be dismissive.  Old news, as they say.

But today’s news is good.  The brave Gabrielle Giffords and her resolute husband, Astronaut Mark Kelly, left Newtown to announce in Washington, D.C., yesterday, the launch of a new gun-control initiative.  Also yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, and Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston, speaking for Mayors Against Illegal Guns noted the release of an anti-gun TV commercial, to be shown in cities where mass killings have occurred.  At last, powerful voices of reason are being raised

The day after Newtown, gun sales across the country soared.  A week after Newtown, the NRA, that merry band of 1776 re-enacters, left their plows in mid-furrow, squared their tri-cornered hats, checked their powder horns, and sauntered front and center to face the news cams.  Their well-worn but winning mantra: everybody should carry a gun.  Stand your ground.  Shoot the bastards before they shoot you.  Post armed guards in kindergartens.  Arm teachers.  With what, firepower equal to the shooters’?

The sad part is that the NRA is winning.  They have parlayed their twisted reading of the Second Amendment into an estimated 300 million guns distributed among the U.S. population.  That’s about one gun per capita.  A gun for every soul.  Every man, woman and child.  That was before Newtown.  Unbelievably,  Newtown inspired a surge in gun sales.

The military-industrial complex has to be licking its collective chops.  The U.S. is far and away the leading manufacturer, seller, and exporter of arms in the world.  Demand is apparently endless and good old American know-how knows how to keep the pace.  The fact is, America has no serious international competitors.  So saturating the domestic market is an obvious step.  Hardly a man is now alive that remembers that these industrial icons were once known as Merchants of Death.  Or cares, apparently.

Hand guns are designed to kill people.  They have no other purpose.  They should be banned.  Rapid fire military-style rifles are designed to kill people.  The have no other purpose.  They should be banned.  Fat chance.

The question is, why are Americans so fearful?  To arm ourselves so heavily, great fear must be abroad in the land.  Whom do we fear?  Or what?  And why? 

The Obama Administration promises recommendations for ending gun violence will be delivered soon.  Those recommendations must recognize pervasive fear and the circumstances that cause people to respond to fear with violence.  This is a huge and vastly complex undertaking, obviously.  But it must begin.  Massacres must end.

And right now, pending action from Washington, citizens should examine their attitudes along with their arsenals.   Do you believe in the rule of law, or do you side with the vilgilantes?  Are you comfortable knowing that someone near you in the mall, at the game, on the plane, the street, at the traffic light, the highway, or place of worship, may be armed?

Can you conceive having your children, from kindergarten to college, caught in the middle of a gun battle in their very classrooms? 

Ridding the country of 300 million guns is a massive challenge.  For one thing, hunting guns should be excepted.  The Brady bill, enacted following the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, in which Press Secretary Jim Brady was shot in the head, has not resonated with the public, prevented from doing so largely by fanaticism and fear.  The law could be buttressed by an amendment requiring states to adopt uniform rules for gun ownership; prohibiting sales of hand guns and assault weapons, registering all weapons, performing background checks on every gun buyer, testing buyers’competence, i.e., in handling a gun safely, and knowing state rules for shooting and hunting.  The suggestion that owners be required to buy liability insurance for each gun owned is gaining traction.  It’s practical and logical and should become law. Liability insurance for every gun would dramatically strengthen Brady.

America disgraces itself by gun violence and mass murder.  Powerful leadership is needed to stay the course of the Merchants of Death and their NRA lackeys.  While we await action from the Obama Administration, we should gratefully acknowledge the initiative of Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly, and that of Mayors Bloomberg, Benino, and the other Mayors Against Illegal Guns.  The country needs their voices.  We can tolerate murder no longer.

Extra!  Jon Daily and Stephen Colbert lambasted the NRA buffoons last night and in this evening’s repeat of their shows.  Hurrah!  We needed that.