As I write, it’s one day after another major gun spree in the United States. This time, it was in the Navy Yard in Washington, DC. Twelve people were massacred. The shooter is also dead.
As I reviewed the newsfeed on Facebook today, I found that many of my friends have posted memorials to those killed including images of lit candles, sayings of condolence, and pledges of one sort or another. Friends who live and work in the Metro DC area posted comments regarding their where-abouts and those of other friends and colleagues at the time of the shooting. It’s tragic. Yet, the reality is that this is just another day’s news in the United States. It’s the price we pay for relaxed gun laws.
What exactly is that price? Since December 14, 2012, the day when a shooter entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that 24,580 people have died in the United States because of gun related violence. (This is the number of reported deaths as of September 17, 2013.) There is no count available of those who have been injured due to gun violence. In addition to the actual deaths and injuries, there is lasting pain and havoc inflicted on families and communities. There is also a huge monetary cost for emergency services including police, EMT’s, other public services, and huge medical expenses often borne by the tax payer. In so many ways, we all pay dearly for the nearly unrestricted freedom to buy firearms.
The stories of the shooters are often so very similar. Aaron Alexis, the alleged shooter at the Navy Yard, had a history of gun violence. He was a veteran living with PTSD. That’s not so different from others, some of whom hadn’t received proper mental health treatment and others who stopped taking prescribed medications to stabilize their moods. Some have been angry young men who had been ostracized or experienced social rejection. Most just didn’t fit well in society. They lashed out.
It will continue to be business as usual in the United States as far as the availability of guns and regularity of gun violence. There’s no political will to make even modest changes to gun laws in this country. Despite the bleakness of this realization, after yet another horrible shooting, I pause, reflect, and ask:
What do these repeated senseless shootings say about the values of the United States? How is it that a nation can view the lives of citizens as worth the cost of readily available semi-automatic weapons that were designed to kill quickly? What prevents a nation viewed as strong from providing proper mental health services for those in need? Clearly, the absence of mental health services has a clear impact on public safety.
Those who support nearly unrestricted access to firearms point to the U.S. Constitution as guaranteeing them the right to bear arms in the second amendment. I can’t help but wonder how such people balance this second amendment “right” with the fundamental, inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those randomly killed in the Navy Yard and other senseless shootings violently lost their lives. Who stands for their right to life which was taken away? Because of routine gun violence, people in the United States are not at liberty to freely move about their day without fear of shootings in schools, houses of worship, businesses, or other public settings. We pretend as though we are safe, yet we know at any time, the sounds of gun shots could begin. The right to pursue happiness has been shattered for countless victims, families, and loved ones. All this for the sake of nearly unrestrained access to guns.
Perhaps one day the people of the United States will grow weary of the cost we pay for gun violence. Until then, we will continue to live with regular news stories of how innocent people were killed because lone shooters attacked for no apparent reason. While I feel great sorrow for those killed and the families they leave behind, I remain perplexed as to how a nation can accept such tragedies as worth the price of easy access to firearms. How can this be anything but utter madness?