Source of original photo unknown
There has been a lot of the usual handwringing about American violence in the wake of the latest mass killing—Tucson—by someone with easy access to an automatic weapon and plenty of ammunition. The usual prayer sessions, vigils, and speeches by public officials have been observed, most recently a strange memorial event, last evening at the University of Arizona. Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association, arguably the most powerful and successful political lobby in the nation, rests comfortably knowing that nothing of consequence will be done to change gun laws in this country—nothing.
The “memorial” event at the University of Arizona was disconcerting in a number of ways. Paradoxically the crowd behavior seemed at times much more akin to that of a rock concert than the expected solemnity of what the occasion seemed to warrant. Cheering and whooping at musical segments, an awkward and self-aggrandizing address by an Hispanic-Native American, a speech by the current governor who has shut down health benefits for critically-ill patients, and a droning address by a president who seems incapable of the “personal touch,” and forgot to mention that he had allowed the assault weapons ban to lapse, and who made considerable rhetorical effort to exonerate political figures who regularly refer to the use if firearms to address their ideological grievances. It was an uncomfortable reminder of the reaction of many Americans after 9-11, the festooning of trucks and SUVs with American flags, the going on about what a great country we are, and the manic shopping to show that we will not let the terrorists win (it probably was the biggest “win” in the history of terrorism). Then, as now, there was the usual hero-ification of the victims, this time only days away from when a sizeable chunk of Congress voted against benefits for the sufferings of 9-11 first responders, and the Buchenwaldian Governor Brewer had already overseen the deaths of a couple of her citizens.
President Obama’s theme was for “unity.” He went on with the blather about how “there is not a red America or a blue America but a United States of America,” and other denials of the realities that is his own election has cast in relief. But gun sales are up and probably will continue to rise; people will want to “protect” themselves not just from the loners and Loughners who are more likely to gun them down with greater firepower before they know what hit them, but those UN black helicopters and the other sinister who are poised to come and take their guns and NASCAR tickets from them. The President did strike a tone of concern for the victims, particularly the 9-yr old. It is different when we know their names and have photos of them; not like when a Predator Drone operated from Nevada takes out a family in Pakistan or Afghanistan as acceptable collateral damage to scoring and al Qaeda or Taliban, remote, efficient, clean. Maybe we should have a look at the books on Obama’s bookshelves, too. (OK, maybe I’ falling into the same trap: turning a memorial into a political occasion.)
Only the hoped for recuperation of Rep. Giffords will keep this latest event in the news cycle for a while. Americans have short attention spans and prefer the denial phase of tragic events. Political strategists know that all too well. This will be spun out as not as the result of structural defects in our system, but as side effect of a “system” that seems in some perverse way to “work.” I am referring here to guns. America, and its political representatives, appear to have chosen against the NRA adage that, “if owing guns is criminalized, only criminals will have guns.” The NRA and its members would prefer an America that is rather like a John Woo film in which he characters are frozen pointing guns at one another’s heads—peace by national “Mexican standoff.”
It is worth a “sidebar” here to mention that there was an armed young man at the Tucson massacre. In subsequent interviews he related that he came upon the scene just when one of the “heroes” who disarmed Loughner happened to pick up the perpetrator’s weapon. He admitted that he very nearly drew his gun and shot the man he mistakenly thought to be the perp. Fortunately he hesitated. But imagine the mistakes in a mall full of armed shoppers once the first shot is fired. Ooops!
We have maybe hundreds of millions of unregulated guns in private hands in America and average something around 50,000 gun homicides and half as many woundings annually. Increasingly we are able to carry them about in public, loaded and concealed. Among developed nations we lead by a great margin. Most of these killings are “personal” violence: you kill your wife, or she kills you, or your kid accidentally kills you, or the dog, or, some 30 percent of the time, you commit suicide with your own gun. Far less often, some teenager whacked out on Mountain Dew, video games, and nachos, wipes out several of his classmates, or people at a political meeting at a mall. Except for Waco and Ruby Ridge, political violence with firearms is relatively rare in America.
And this leads to a question that continues to perplex me: Why is there not more gun violence in America? It would seem we have considerable motivation for assassinations. Not the ideological killings of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, but those who have done enormous harm to people. When ENRON collapsed, after having screwed its employees out of the entire pensions, there were no assassination attempts against the managers who perpetrated the fraud and deceit. Not one. The top guy, Ken Lay, died of a heart attack. Mind you this was a firm in Texas, you know, Texas. All those guns and not one bad guy taken out. How about this: after he was exposed for bilking billions out of his clients Bernie Madoff was still taking walks in the streets of Manhattan. He wipes some people completely out, but not one was angry enough to gum him down in the street. Speaking of streets, there are all those Wall Street boys who wiped out pensions, caused massive losses of jobs and homes and ruined the American Dream for untold armed Americans; nobody shot them, or raised much of a protest over their getting bailed out for it. Where are the massacres at the clubs and expensive restaurants of those CEOs and hedge fund managers and greedy bankers? Nada. Nothing. How about all those priests who abused all those kids? If you had a gun would you take out Fr. or Rev. X for raping your son or daughter? Most people would not, but are there any that would? C’mon, let’s put some of those Glocks and AK47s to work for a good cause. The elements are all there in countless circumstances—the weapon, the perpetrators, and the motive—but it’s a rarity, if it happens at all. Where is the homicidal anger when an insurance company (or Governor Brewer) kills a loved one by withdrawal of benefits? In countries where “honor” and vengeance are part of the culture you can bet shots would be fired and blood would be spilt. They need not be listed here. They kill more people in a day than we do in a year. Paradoxically, an American who has just lost his job, home, and pension to his bank is more likely to turn his gun on himself.
To repeat—nothing will be done about guns in America as a result of the Tucson massacre. The NRA will rule guns the way big insurance rules health care, etc. And maybe the NRA is right (if for the wrong reasons). Most Americans with guns are afraid, most would end up dead in a gunfight, many want an opportunity to commit suicide should they want a “way out.” As for “personal safety” guns offer very little protection against somebody who wants to kill you. I once told a friend who is a multiple gun owner with a permit to “carry” that I could kill him before he ever got his gun out. I would choose the time, place and opportunity, slit his throat and be gone before he could say “Glock.” There is no such thing as a free society in a state of constant personal combat readiness. That is a society that will surely shoot itself in the foot.
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©2011, James A. Clapp (UrbisMedia Ltd. Pub. 1.16.2011)