America Really Needs to Address Its Gun Problem

At the time of writing, the website massshootingtracker.org has the number of mass shootings in the US currently at 377, with the number killed sitting at 542 for this year alone. The fact that such a website even exists is startling, but the numbers make for some truly horrifying reading.

The most recent tragedy that took the lives of many innocent people fell upon those attending a First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty-six innocent people in their place of worship gunned down by a maniac only intent on killing. The response in the public discourse was swift and predicable; swift because social media allows us easy access to information surrounding the attack, and predictable, because we've heard these responses before.

President Trump calmly and coolly passed this attack off as a mental health issue, as is so often the case by the pro-gun gang, even before we all knew of the true facts of the case. This response was in stark contrast to his response to the New York attacker where he was quick to argue for tighter immigration laws and even the death penalty; again, before even all the facts were known.

The natural position of the pro-gun groups can usually be split into three responses:

1. Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
2. Less guns only make us less safe. How will I defend myself against an attacker?
3. Country X has really tight gun control, and really high violent crime.

So how about, for the sake of reason, we attempt to respond to each of these arguments reasonably?

"Guns don't kill people. People kill people."

This much is true. Guns are inanimate objects, destined to gather dust until the end of eternity unless someone picks it up and makes it go pew pew, but was that ever in dispute? Let's compare it with another typical fallacy, the argument that we don't argue banning knives because some people use them to harm or kill others, so why ban guns? Well, the answer to that is simple: knives are a tool, used mainly to prepare food, and generally do other things, but are not specifically designed for killing. When a knife is used to kill another person, this is a misuse of the tool.

Now what is a gun for? What is its sole purpose? Well, the answer is simple, the gun is an invention which has the specific purpose of killing those on the receiving end of the bullet fired from it. Some will attempt to argue that the gun is also a tool, as it's used for hunting or self-defence. While this may be accurate to an extent, the sole purpose of a gun remains the same, to kill. Whatever your intention in your ownership of that weapon is irrelevant, you hold in your hand an object designed to specifically kill other living things. That is its only purpose.

"Less guns only make us less safe. How will I defend myself against an attacker?"

This again is another fallacy, the "good guy with a gun" argument that posits if you take away the guns you only serve to leave the innocent defenceless against the actions of the wicked. But that argument has quite simply been proven to be a myth, in fact, there is evidence to suggest that increasing the right to carry concealed weapons has led to an increase in crime overall.

Being the victim of any sort of crime isn't a fun experience for anyone to go through, but being a victim of a mass shooting event I can imagine is even less fun. And certainly such relaxed gun laws didn't help the victims of the Vegas attack, nor did it help the victims of the attack in Texas. Quite simply, when dealing with things like this, you don't want more amateur gun owners having a shoot out like in the Wild West. You want trained professionals highly skilled in ending these types of attacks as and when they appear.

It is true that you can never outright prevent crime or harm being done to people by those who wish to do bad, but by making freely available such tools of brutality, their wish is made so much easier to be granted.

"Country X has really tight gun control, and really high violent crime."

So finally, it's an argument most often raised, yet so blatantly misguided, and a brazen attempt to deflect the attention elsewhere. Depending on the country, this may or may not be true, and being a civilised Brit, the attention is usually turned to how things are on our shores. Of course, no country is perfect when it comes to crime, and certainly the UK is no safe haven, but our country took the right approach to gun ownership following the tragic Dunblane Massacre in 1996. The UK took a quick and hard line against guns, and thankfully, we have never seen another massacre like it. And you know what else? There's some countries that have some insanely tight gun laws that now see virtually no gun crime, so it is possible with the right intention and desire to truly change for the better.

Now I know what some will say, some will point out other lesser-known shooting events, or the recent spate of acid attacks, or even the high level of knife crime, but the response to these is really quite simple. You cannot murder 59 people and injure 500 others in a single knife attack unless you're Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai, then you might have a chance.

You cannot do the same large scale damage with some acid as you can with a semi-automatic rifle, and that is what makes this whole debate so obvious and yet so damned frustrating.

I get it, Americans love their guns. Guns are, falsely, believed to be the very reason the United States was able to fight off the pesky tea-loving British. It's enshrined in the Constitution, it's told in the history books, and because it is so ingrained into the American psyche, it's going to be virtually impossible to make a positive change. A well-armed militia isn't integral to a healthy democracy. America has one of the most well-armed populations on the planet, yet is one of the most intrusive police states in the world. New Zealand has more freedom that America. I know nothing will change overnight in America, the history is just too long, and the gun fetish too entrenched into the minds of the average American that it's like removing a tumour. It's no longer a political issue, it's a cultural one. It's like expecting Americans to stop speaking English and begin speaking French overnight. It would take decades to make such a massive, psychological impact upon such a large population, but it's not impossible. The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one, and America really needs to find a way to admit it has a gun problem.