Susan Estrich
“Turn on the TV,” my friend Annie said. No hello – it must be a bad thing. “The Super Bowl” At first I thought of Las Vegas. But no, this has to be Kansas City. Shooting. One dead woman. Twenty-two people were shot. Eleven children. here we go again. What could be more American? Schools are closed. One million people gathered to celebrate. and this is.
children. Teenagers. A personal dispute turns into a national tragedy. once again.
When does it stop?
The short answer: no.
It is an open pregnancy. Last year recorded a record number of 184 deaths due to gunfire. coincidence?
The Super Bowl shooting, on Valentine's Day, was the sixth anniversary of the Parkland school shooting. Another coincidence? A group of residents issued a statement condemning the laxity in gun laws. Others took to social media to point out that the law was not the problem, or the solution, because it is against the law for juveniles to buy weapons.
So they got it anyway.
Three people were arrested, two of them armed. Two of the three arrested suspects were juveniles.
Eighty percent of the public favors common-sense gun regulation. Instead, we have a patchwork that varies from country to country, and uneven implementation. Every time we have a shooting, we stay away from each other, and nothing happens. What's wrong with us? Why do we routinely accept logical regulation of cars and harnesses at the phrase “gun control”?
The short answer is we don't. A minority of a minority paralyzed the political process. A minority of the minority has seized our free will, controls the majority, and turns our streets into battlefields.
Then something happens, as it always does. The record is broken. Children are shocked. The mother is shot.
We pretend to be helpless when we are not.
We pretend that nothing can be done when it is possible.
We act like it's inevitable when it's not.
And then most of it disappears, and, except for those who bear the scars, are forgotten forever.
Guns don't kill, shooters do. People who carry weapons do so, and must be licensed. I checked. Trained. Controlled. They are punished when they threaten the lives of others.
Guns are inherently dangerous things. If you are not licensed and trained, you do not have the right to have a car. You have to pay to register it. You must be tested to drive it. You are responsible for what you do with it. You must have insurance to use it. How simple is it? How complicated can we make it?
Why aren't responsible gun owners at the forefront of gun safety? Why are they not more, not least, concerned with logical organization? Why have they not taken the leadership role in encouraging parents to teach and promote legal gun ownership and handling, and ensure that those who pose a danger cannot easily access guns?
Consider this paradox. When there is a highly publicized shooting, it is always followed by a renewed debate about gun control. Studies then point to an increase – not a decrease – in gun sales. It is assumed that these are legitimate sales.
Possible.
But what we need to do is stop teenagers who become part of the gun culture – in many cases, first as targets of violence and later as perpetrators of crimes. Once they progress into the cycle of violence, it is too late. Once they get their weapons out, or go out and get them, it's too late.
The challenge lies in early intervention, in a positive way, to avoid resorting to weapons and the culture of violence in adolescence before it is too late. Which was last week in Kansas City.
• Susan Estrich is a columnist for Creators Syndicate.
