(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Treat Gun Violence as the Public Health, National Security Crisis It Is [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-04 By Karen Rubin, News-Photos-Features.com, editor@news-photos-features.com June 7 is Gun Violence Awareness Day – absurd on its face that we aren’t made aware enough by daily headlines more tragic and outrageous than the day before. Perhaps it means to be sensitive on that day, instead of numb to the evidence of pervasive, ubiquitous gun violence that is uniquely American. American Exceptionalism indeed. It comes just after Memorial Day when we honor the 1.3 million who died in America’s wars – for the freedoms we enjoy today, we like to say. Paramount among our “freedoms” for a minority of Americans, is the right to have a gun. But 1 million have been shot just in the last decade and over 660,000 died (more than in America’s deadliest war, the Civil War) just since Republicans let the Assault Weapons Ban lapse in 2004. It is a time when the number of these weapons of war increased exponentially in the civilian population and the ChristoFascist majority Supreme Court decided that guns have more rights than children have to live, more rights than women have over their body, overturning centuries of precedent and law to declare an individual’s virtually unregulated “right” to carry a gun. (The 2nd amendment says “well-regulated militia” and “arms,” not “firearms” or “guns”.). Indeed, New York can’t have its own gun control law to save lives, but Texas can damn women and girls and South Carolina can deny Democrats (Blacks) their constitutional right to equal representation. The United States, with the most lax rules for acquiring a gun of any other nation in the world, has the most guns in civilian hands per person in the world, in fact, more guns than people: 120.48 firearms per 100 people – twice the rate of civilian firearm ownership of the next highest country, Yemen, at 52.8 guns per 100 residents; Canada has 34.7 guns per 100 residents. American civilians own 46% (393.3 million) of the world's 857 million civilian-use firearms. We don’t have a militia anymore (we have an actual military), but 24.6 million Americans (one in 20) owns an AR-15-style assault weapon built for the battlefield, according to 2021 Georgetown University research. The rate of gun violence has only increased – the number of gun deaths for a decade was an unimaginable 33,000 (a 9/11 a month); in 2021 the number soared to a record 48,830, an 8% increase from 2020). That’s an average of more than 116 killed each day. Gun violence has become the number one killer of children. Let that sit for a moment as you consider the so-called culture of “life” that has turned women into a slave to the state, without bodily autonomy. Even more horrifying is the number of mass shootings, directly correlated to the increase in availability of assault weapons: 273 in 2014, increasing to 690 in 2021. While our focus has tended to be only on the dead, millions of Americans live with physical, mental and emotional injuries after surviving a gun assault, costing the nation $557 billion a year in medical care not to mention lost productivity. And what about the orphans and widowed? From 2015 to 2022, mass shootings with four or more people killed where an assault weapon was used resulted in nearly six times as many people shot, more than twice as many people killed, and 23 times as many people wounded on average compared to those that did not involve the use of one. Assault weapons are so efficient that it makes the “good guy with a gun” excuse even more absurd. What should outrage every American is that the assault weapons exponentially murder random innocents – not like those pesky handguns that are so often used in gang violence and intentional killings. It’s school children in Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde, and thousands more. It’s people watching a July 4th parade, attending a concert, going to a movie or nightclub, shopping at the mall, going to church or synagogue. On the other hand, there is evidence that the assault weapon ban worked: the Brady Campaign estimates that during the 10 years the ban was in effect, mass shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur, but after the ban expired, mass shootings in which six or more people were killed increased by 347%. On the other hand, there is evidence that the assault weapon ban worked: the Brady Campaign estimates that during the decade the ban was in effect, mass shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur, but after the ban expired, mass shootings in which six or more people were killed increased by 347%. And then there is the 6 year old who came to school with a gun and shot his teacher. The child who fished a gun from his mother’s pocketbook and killed his 2 year old sibling. There is the young mother who came home to find two teenagers who had been suspended from school and had just robbed another house of a gun, who shot her dead so she could not identify them. What was Tennessee’s answer to its most recent school shooting? Was it to put controls on access to guns? No, they passed a law authorizing teachers to pack a gun in the classroom. The ubiquity of guns is also at the heart of police deaths – 1000 a year. Police, even “bad cops,” can claim self-defense even when their suspect has raised hands or is holding a cell phone, or running away; unarmed Black people are 3x more likely to be shot and killed by police (while white mass murderers are typically apprehended, even treated to Burger King). States with permitless concealed carry laws see a 13 percent higher rate of police shootings, while states with strong firearm laws, like Firearm Purchaser Licensing laws, are linked to reductions in shootings by police. And Stand Your Ground Laws in so many of the states with the most permissive gun laws (permitless and open carry) are having tragic consequences, where the perpetrator knows to shoot first and kill in order to claim self-defense. In fact, Texas Governor Greg Abbott just pardoned a man who murdered a Black Lives protester, who was said to also be carrying a gun (and pushing his fiancée in a wheelchair). “Texas has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney," Governor Abbott declared. More concerning is the rise of political violence and intimidation combined with the easy availability of guns – there is no Free Speech, Freedom to Protest or Assembly, even free and fair elections if people are shooting up your home, or armed thugs are standing in front of polling places or in town halls. Tell me how we as a society stand for this? How we allow our “culture” to be defined by guns (and hate and violence instead of DEI-Diversity, Equity, Inclusion). How is that acceptable? Remember when Roe v Wade gave women a constitutional right to reproductive healthcare, but states like Texas, Georgia, Louisiana still managed to put so many barriers as to create “abortion deserts”? Well, there is no reason, even with this ChristoFascist Supreme Court majority, that this public health epidemic cannot be addressed with sensible regulation. The Biden Administration has been successful in passing some of the most significant gun violence prevention regulations in 30 years. Last fall, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) issued a rule that would expand background checks to more gun sales– seems commonsense, you would think, especially for gun owners who keep insisting they are responsible. The 90-day public comment period, has produced 230,000 comments in support of this life-saving policy, outnumbering the gun lobby's opposition. But now, gun extremists in Congress are threatening to attack this rule. Meanwhile, the ChristoFascist Supreme Court may well rule, in United States v. Rahimi, Red Flag laws unconstitutional – essentially that abused partners and spouses have no right to live without fear of their abuser shooting them or their children. Here’s what needs to be done: Manufacturers: Ban assault weapons, high-capacity ammo, bump stocks for civilian use, mechanisms that turn guns into machine guns, and ghost guns. Give a deadline for when it will be illegal to possess (institute a buy-back program; facilitate donations to Ukraine.) End the unprecedented exemption for product liability that shields gun manufacturers in contrast to every other industry or product in America, and bring the gun industry under regulation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Require the $28 billion guns and ammo industry pay into a Victims Compensation Fund (just as banks are required to contribute to FDIC) and help defray the $597 billion/a year that gun violence costs society. Require gun manufacturers to build in Smart ID so that a gun stolen from house, car, soldier or police officer cannot be used by a criminal. (FBI crime data indicates one gun is stolen from a car every nine minutes.) Institute advertising/marketing controls just as government did for Big Tobacco. Retailers: Require all guns to be sold by a licensed retailer who is required to do background check and register ownership of that gun, including guns that otherwise would be traded, sold or gifted among family or friends – they would need to sell them back to a retailer because every transfer would require a background check and re-registration. Retailers would have to pay fines or if multiple incidents, lose license. Regulate WHERE, HOW and WHO can sell guns – just like they regulate where and how women can access healthcare; require retail shops to have security and report every gun sold. Harden penalties for retailers who do not do proper background checks or allow straw purchases (loss of retail license, fines, criminal penalty if gun improperly sold used in a crime). Put a hefty tax on purchase of guns, ammo and gun paraphernalia, which helps recompense law enforcement. No online purchases of guns or ammo. Gun Owners: Gun owners must be certified as having gone through training and knowing laws regarding safe storage, licensed to carry a gun and registered as the owner of that specific gun (just as for a car). License requires a psychological exam, background check that includes criminal record. License/permit must be renewed every 5 years. If a person moves, must get a new license (like voter registration, auto registration). Universal background check, national registry. Red Flag laws to prevent anyone who is adjudicated a threat to self or others from possessing a gun. Require owners to carry liability insurance; homeowners and health insurance have added charge, with settlements made to victims. Tax license, registration, guns and ammunition and supplies (like tax extra for internet, cable TV, car registration) – money go to Victims Fund; Ban ghost guns – add criminal penalty if used in crime. Ban assault weapons, high-capacity ammo. Give a time limit to participate in a “buy back” program. Civil and criminal penalties for failing to safely store weapons, ammunition; severity increases if gun used in violent crime. If guns are going to be everywhere, there has to be accountability: Negligent homicide for anyone whose gun is used in murder, felony prosecution for anyone whose gun is used in crime, including parents of kids. Stand Your Ground defense? Prove actual mortal threat and no way to mitigate (shooting someone in the back you suspect was thinking about shoplifting a bottle of water does not qualify, shooting someone trying to back out of your driveway in their own car doesn’t qualify). Still not good enough? Then apply the exact language of the 2nd Amendment at the time of the founding (since the ChristoFascist radical Supreme Court ideologues like to reach back to the beginning of time and the so-called “original text”), when there weren’t any bullets or rapid fire guns, only single-ball muskets. And have a Supreme Court that actually applies the Constitution. We may think because we live in New York State which, in spite of the Supreme Court, still has some sensible gun control, but that really depends on who is Governor and in the Legislature’s majority. There are several laws that New Yorkers Against Gun Violence are advocating: The School Anti-Violence Education Act (SAVE) S.4598D(Bailey)/A.4917D (Anderson). School Notification on Safe Storage S.6980A (Mayer) / A.7517A (Benedetto). Improve School Safety and Training Protocols S.6537A (Gounardes) /A6665A (Simon). Merchant Category Code for Firearm Sales S.8479A (Myrie) /A.9862A. Stop DIY Machine Guns in NY S.7365-A (Hoylman) / A.10053 (Simon) and S.9225 (Myrie) / A.10194 (Solages). See also: https://www.preventioninstitute.org/focus-areas/preventing-violence-and-reducing-injury/preventing-violence-advocacy __________________________ © 2024 News & Photo Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. For editorial feature and photo information, go to www.news-photos-features.com, email editor@news-photos-features.com. 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