“Thoughts and prayers don’t
stop shootings…we have to work to build a less violent generation in a country
founded on violence,” stated David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland School
shooting, during a recent speech at UCSB. Tragically the number of deaths from
firearms has increased to 40,000 a year. Citizens of America, there is
virtually a war happening within our country. Metal detectors, armed guards in
churches and shopping malls, and lockdowns at every school — what has happened
to our nation? We are no longer the land of the free when we don’t feel safe in
our homes, schools, churches, and on the streets.
David Hogg correctly stated
that we are a country founded on violence. The Revolutionary War and the Civil
War were necessary, but must they remain harbingers of America’s future? Consider
two countries, Australia and New Zealand, whose citizens did not respond to a
mass shooting by buying more guns. They quickly understood that stricter gun
laws were essential. Why are Americans more violent? The 2ndAmendment in itself does not encourage violence. Madison inserteded the 2ndAmendment into the Bill of Rights, notwith the purpose of an individual right to own a firearm, as the new interpretation states, but for the
purpose of arming the citizenry in case of an attack, as there was no standing
army at that time.
Read it thoughtfully and
carefully: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”
However, even with the
present interpretation, we may focus on the first three words: “A well-regulated.”
Therefore we are able to pass sensible gun violence prevention laws.
The debate in Australia and
developments in subsequent years shows how a country can successfully deal with
gun violence. In Port Arthur, Tasmania, 35 people were murdered and 18 were
wounded by an assailant with a semiautomatic rifle. The public outcry brought
together Australia’s political parties from the right and the left to take
major action. Sadly, in comparison with Australia, the U.S. Congress has done
nothing.
Within months the Australian
government “banned automatic and semiautomatic firearms, adopted new licensing
requirements, established a national firearms registry, and instituted a 28-day
waiting period for gun purchases," according to The Atlantic. There was widespread
opposition at the time to the legislation. But gun control proponents pointed
out that most gun-related killings are not perpetrated by people with criminal
or psychiatric records.
The government also bought
and destroyed more than 600,000 civilian-owned firearms, in a national gun
buyback that cost half a billion dollars and was funded by raising taxes. The
entire action took just months to implement.
In the 17 years before
these laws were passed, 13 mass shootings occurred in Australia. Since 1996,
there have been none. In addition the country experienced a two-thirds decline
in the overall rate of firearm deaths.
In comparison, the 32
students killed slaughtered at Virginia Tech and 20 first grade children mowed
down at Sandy Hook have brought zero response from the United States Congress. Parents
in tears pleading for universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons
and large capacity magazines did not move Congress to take a single action
toward reasonable gun violence prevention.
On Saturday, June 15, from
8 a.m. to noon at Santa Barbara's Earl Warren Showgrounds, the Coalition
Against Gun Violence and the city Police Department have organized their fifth
anonymous gun buyback. In the past four gun buybacks, almost 1,200 firearms
were collected in exchange for Smart & Final gift cards.
This is the second year the
City of Santa Barbara has contributed $10,000 to the buyback. Hopefully the
importance of a gun buyback will encourage the County of Santa Barbara, every
city in the county, and perhaps some businesses to contribute to the buyback in
2020.
Do gun buybacks make a
difference? They have in Australia. At the coalition’s first gun buyback press
conference, a member of the press asked, “What would you consider a success?” Immediately
Santa Barbara County Cistrict Attorney Joyce Dudley said, “One gun. One gun
could save a life.”
Mass shootings and suicides
don’t seem to encourage Americans to speak out or take action. As you read this, how many degrees of
separation are you from knowing a relative, friend, or neighbor who was killed
by a gun? We are all touched by gun violence.
For more information or to contribute to this year's gun buyback, please visit sbcoalition.org or crowdrise.com .
Toni Wellen chairs the
Coalition Against Gun Violence.