Thoughts About This Crazy US Gun Debate and What Needs to Happen Now to Make Things Better

What to do about guns in the US? What a complicated issue. Bear with me if you have the time and are inclined to read a bit and please give me your thoughts as well when you are finished reading this post.

For me it all comes down to the question of what are those in power to do when the behavior of people is hurting themselves and others? What actions should be taken.

We have recently and continue to have this debate around cigarettes, certain types of food and now social media. In a relatively free market economy like America what is supposed to happen is that the economy will will self-heal and push out the bad or undesirable on its own. But what happens when marketing and fear come into play and the population thinks that it cannot do without the thing that is causing problems?

To me an interesting thing about guns is the fact that the vast majority who purchase several in their lifetimes and never use them for any other purpose except to go to the gun range and shoot. I understand the being prepared and sense of security arguments, but would anyone purchase life insurance if no one died?

America's problem is not guns, it is that the country has a gun culture and this leads to good people and criminals always thinking of a gun first. So here we are and guns are everywhere. At last count 310,000,000 guns for 350,000,000 citizens and still the gun shows are packed. Meanwhile, we have mass shootings in offices, warehouses, schools or churches literally happening every week. Meanwhile, the citizens and those in power find themselves impotent to stop it because even the slightest hint of common sense legislation is rejected by those who back and support guns.

As the carnage continues, the responses about guns gets more and more extreme and if you think about it for a second. If you think that no one is listening to you when you are standing right in front of them eventually you start yelling even if you are in a library. I just read that anti-gun groups are considering going after credit card companies who allow people to purchase guns with their cards (all cards do this by the way). For sure, at some point someone will launch a lawsuit against a credit card company for providing the credit for a mass shooter to purchase a large amount of firearms. And because juries are getting more sympathetic to shooting victims, a credit card company might lose a case or find it so expensive to defend and face such negative publicity that they acquiesce.

This was one of the ways they created such harsh laws against tobacco companies. Lawyers and activists went after retailers, wholesalers and anyone along the supply chain, in addition to the tobacco companies. It wasn't always about lawsuits it was sometimes about making anyone involved look irresponsible and uncaring. So companies like Visa and Capital One probably have a need for concern because the tide in America seems to be turning and they know that they need to be ahead of the curve.

Do I think that common sense gun legislation is going to erode personal freedoms? Do I think that what comes next is the government asking or demanding people give up their guns? To me this changes very little and the guns rights enthusiasts do and will continue to wield lots of power and they should. People should be allowed to own guns.

For me common sense gun laws change nothing that is already in place and to me addresses an issue that is a weak point in our democracy which allows this debate to rage. It is one of interpretation and culture. We have a document (the 2nd amendment) conceived at a very different time and when there was a great fear about what was rightly perceived as a real threat which was a takeover of our country because we were unarmed. One of the ways the British controlled the colonies was to deny the people the right to bear arms. When the US was formed the founding fathers said never again and the 2nd amendment was created as a response to that real threat.

But from these humble ideas America along the way developed into a gun culture. So did a lot of other places but nearly every other one has given this culture up in the name of progress and civility. We never did because America has always stood for freedom first and of course good old marketing and fear mongering by industries that create guns and finally of course by the government itself. Cultures that love weapons are easier to move into wars (which is another subject). But times have changed and I would debate that our culture simply has not and it is time for it to get in step with the rest of the world.

By the way, this is not the only amendment where we are having great debate. Our very first amendment which covers freedom of the press and how it is interpreted today, is also being called into question and rightly so.
One thing I believe that often gets lost in this debate is history. America had a society where at one point in time, the majority of men had a gun on his hip. Things changed because there were too many shoots outs where innocent people were getting shot and killed and the the other reason was that police lost their ability to take control. This second reason has been often exploited in the gun debate, and yes we too often have problems with the police, but what is the alternative, going back to 1860?

And in terms of this rhetoric about an armed society is a polite society, I just don't buy it. Show me the data please. And please do not use Switzerland as an example of a fully armed polite society, because 1. The Swiss has always been a polite society. Their name actually is synonymous with neutral. Also and more importantly, they have stricter gun laws than the US including an outright ban on assault weapons and the right for the government to come and take the guns away from any citizen they choose no questions asked.

But back to my main point. I think common sense gun laws are not a slippery slope for gun owners because to me the argument is the same as the one with cigarettes. This is about helping a population that is addicted to something (a gun culture) that is simply unhealthy. Not only can we not get off of it, those giving us our fix know what buttons to push to continue our irrational behavior around the issue. We are typical addicts who can only hear an argument in the context of it providing our next fix. We hear that a close relative died and we only wonder if the relative put us in the will so we can use the money to buy more of the thing we are addicted to. In other words our behavior is irrational and more importantly disconnected and lacking in empathy. People are dying and many of them children. That is the overwhelming issue here.

This is where good government needs to step in and address these issues non-partisan and based on finding real solutions rather than compromises. We cannot help ourselves. Whether we are the gun addicts or those who use the same behaviors to combat them are not rational r seeking a solution, only to be right. Government must step in.

For this reason, I stand with the young people. Their approach, thoughts and concerns about the subject is clear. They say that In 2018 ,in the greatest country in the world, it is insane that there are not commons sense gun laws to protect citizens and even crazier that politicians are not making this their most important issue.

People are dying unnecessarily for reasons that we can stop or at least diminish greatly over time. They are taking it directly to the elected officials and threatening them with voting them out. This approach when sustained, always creates the right conditions to force change no matter how unpopular.

If I were a politician who was a gun enthusiast I would compel the gun side of the debate to come to the table with solutions on their minds. Simply because what seems to be coming if nothing substantial is done, will be discussions about complete gun bans. That is a debate and movement no one should want to see happen. I believe it is not only wrong but that it will divide the country even more than it already is. Instead, the common sense gun legislation issues can be used as an opportunity to bring us together. Now is the time to act.

Thanks and please give me your thoughts on the subject.