In April 1996, an emotionally troubled young man went on a killing spree at a busy tourist spot known as Port Arthur (Tasmania, Australia). It remains one of the world's bloodiest, resulting in 35 deaths, 28 injured. The gunman did not turn the gun on himself and is currently serving 35 life sentences. Although his motivation remains a guarded secret (thanks to his family and attorneys), he did persist in asking how many he'd succeeded in killing.
Our own NRA extended its reach into Australia's public reaction to this atrocity — by supporting the gun lobby. Like America, Australia does have a "frontier and a gun" component to its culture. But overall the Australian government's reaction was swift and conclusive: According to Policy Mic, "in the wake of the 1996 shootings, support for further gun control measures swelled to 95% of the population. Spearheaded by Australia's conservatives (yes, conservatives), the laws banned rapid-firing long guns and launched an extensive gun buyback program that removed over 650,000 guns from the public. It also tightened laws and regulations surrounding their sale, registration, and storage. The whole package cost about $500 per gun and was compulsory.
"As a result, some estimates say 20% of Australia's total guns were eliminated and ownership by household halved. In the U.S., a similar law would get rid of 40 million firearms. The decreasing homicide rate in Australia declined even faster, and mass shootings stopped entirely. Before the gun laws, Australia had seen 13 mass shootings, 112 resulting deaths, and 52 injured in the previous 18 years. Australia's never seen a similar massacre since. Meanwhile, the firearms suicide rate fell dramatically from about 492 a year to 247.
"Americans don't have a comparable experience because there are 89 guns for every 100 citizens in the country. In the U.S., a 2013 study found that an increase of firearms ownership by 1% translates almost directly to a 1% increase in death by firearm."
I realize Australia's a smaller continent with a different culture. What troubles me — makes me heartsick, in fact — is this: What is our American culture? Don't we deplore terrorism? We submit ourselves to ceremonies of grief over 9/11. So since when did American culture, rich and diverse, say it was okay to stand by helpless and passive as children are gunned down at school? There have been 74 school shootings since Sandy Hook (http://everytown.org/article/schoolshootings).
How sluggishly we have responded to this escalating death toll by gun violence. It was naturally confounding at first, but then twenty first-graders were slaughtered and instead of implementing a practical backgrounds-check amendment that would've solved a fraction of the overall problem, our politicians pocketed money from the NRA and looked the other way. Many more have liberalized gun control restrictions. The senator from my district earned nearly $400,000 for his inaction, and my state governor signed a bill that won him accolades from gun enthusiasts and "2nd Amendment patriots," even as two more shooting incidents occurred in Georgia, within 24 hours of Isla Vista, and a couple days before two cops were shot in cold blood in Vegas.
Between the arrogance of those who would rate and pay our public servants based on fealty to their own interests, and our own public passivity, the problem of gun violence in America will only worsen — it's been getting worst every month. Public outrage is expressed on social media, but not directed at those who've been empowered — by us — to make the laws that would ultimately aid and represent the greater good.
Complacency kills, because it eradicates the two things that make us human: curiosity and empathy. We need to be aggressively curious about finding solutions, and extending far more empathy for those who've been so cruelly bereaved by gun violence.
It takes less time to contact your elected leaders than it does to watch your favorite sitcom. Most have online forms so you can correspond from their web sites. If you don't know who your elected reps are, put your zip code in at this site: http://whoismyrepresentative.com/. And if you're writing for gun control, all you have to tell them is #notonemore.
No comments:
Post a Comment