According to a study by the University of Washington's
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the rate of gun-related deaths in
the United States is roughly twice as high as the Palestinian Territories’, four
times India’s or Pakistan’s, five times Iran’s, eight times Canada’s, 27 times
Denmark’s, 32 times Germany’s, 64 times China’s, 100 times Japan’s, and well
over 100 times the rate in Singapore. So
what is our response to this scourge?
To regulate bump stocks. Maybe.
It’s a bit like the German government reacting to the
Holocaust by doing nothing more than regulating the use of Zyklon B gas? Talk about confronting a symptom, not the
disease.
In our case, the disease is clear: we love guns. By “we,” I mean the people who run Blue as
well as Red America. And let’s face it, our
leaders aren’t the only ones who’ve been smitten. On these shores, you’ll find at least twice
as many guns per capita as anywhere else.
In fact, if we buried 75% of our firearms, we’d still rank among the top
10% in the world in gun ownership.
As of 2013, America had roughly 40 million more guns than people. And the thought of banning handguns is
rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Whereas
60% of Americans supported such a ban in the year I was born, that percentage
has now dropped to less than 25
Lest you think this is a partisan issue, think again. In
2008, candidate Hillary Clinton touted the American gun culture. "You know,” she said, “my dad took me
out behind the cottage that my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake
Winola outside of Scranton and taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl.
...[S]ome people now continue to teach their children and their grandchildren. It's
part of culture. It's part of a way of life. People enjoy hunting and shooting
because it's an important part of who they are. Not because they are
bitter."
Hillary is not alone among politicians in her party. Bernie Sanders has also referred to himself
as “pro gun and pro hunting.” But to
appreciate the Democrats’ love for guns, don’t simply focus on the statements
of their politicians. Focus on what their
politicians are NOT saying. Namely, focus
on their conspiracy of silence in reaction to the work of some of their most
reliable and powerful sets of supporters: the moguls and “stars” of Hollywood.
I’m reluctant to join in the chorus of criticism against
Hollywood because it’s often a thinly veiled way of expressing anti-Semitism. But on the issue of guns, Tinsel Town must be
taken to task. Its infatuation with guns
has reached epidemic proportions.
As any movie lover can tell you, the role of guns in movies
is becoming increasingly central, and I’m not just referring to R rated
movies. Even PG13 movies are awash in
gun-induced blood. One study found that
of the top-grossing movies over the past quarter century, nine out of ten
contained a main character who is violent.
So not only does America love guns, we export this love to
movie-watching audiences all over the world.
Believe me, I’m not simply looking back longingly for the “old
days” of film. Notably, while our
on-screen heroes are becoming more and more weaponized, they are drinking less
alcohol and smoking way fewer cigarettes.
Apparently, substance abuse isn’t as cool now as it used to be, thank
God. But weapons? Those are way cool.
I’m often reminded of that line from the James Bond movie, “The
Living Daylights,” in which James Bond was armed with a handgun, but Brad
Whittaker carried a machine gun and delightfully so. “You’ve had your eight,” he chuckled, “now I’ll
have my 80.” What followed was a fusillade
of bullets, something that was once confined to war movies but has now become
commonplace in all sorts of film genres, and especially the high budget films.
“I know what you're thinking. ‘Did he fire six shots or
only five?’ Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost
track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the
world and would blow your head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself one
question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” That was the climax of one of the most iconic
scenes in the history of American cinema.
It comes from the 1971 classic, Dirty Harry, which at the time was
associated with a big powerful man carrying a big powerful gun. Today, however, that gun would be thought of
as a joke. After all, what kind of
amateur would bring a six shooter now to a gun fight? Certainly not Stephen Paddock, Omar Saddiqui
Mateen, Seung-Hui Cho, or Adam Lanza. Those
men are all modern, sophisticated gun users.
They recognize that American consumers have the right to possess weapons
that fire large numbers of bullets in an extremely short period of time. They also recognize that we Americans possess
these rights because, apparently, such weapons help to put us in a better position
when we are hunting animals or protecting ourselves against human intruders.
Well,
please allow me to respond to Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and other
Democratic politicians who are willing to praise guns in return for votes. And
please allow me to respond to the Republican politicians who won’t buck the NRA
no matter how many Americans are gunned down on the streets of this country, or
to the Hollywood moguls who make movies involving assault weapons that kill
lots of people, or to the “liberal” actors who appear in those movies. For all of you, I offer the following
response:
I
hate guns. I don’t think they are
cool. I think they are ugly.
I
hate hunting. I hate the idea that human
beings shed innocent animal blood. And
yes, I hate the idea that people feel entitled to kill animals in order to eat
them.
I
hate the idea that a human being would call killing a defenseless animal a “sport.”
Yes,
I understand that sometimes herds have to be thinned. So thin them – but say the Mourners Kaddish
when you do.
And
yes, I understand that sometimes people need to be shot in self-defense. But nobody in this country, except for
soldiers and police officers, needs assault weapons in order to defend
themselves.
As
for what happened in Las Vegas last weekend, it is unspeakable. But it is also characteristically
American.
There
is an old saw that says “When you go to bed with dogs, you wake up with fleas.” But when you go to bed with guns, you
sometimes don’t wake up at all.
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