I’m charming, witty, and have a great sense of humor. Really. One
day I’ll write a blog post reflecting that. You’ll laugh and liquids will spurt
out of your nose. Today is not that day.
20 little children, all first graders, are dead. They were
all shot multiple times with semi-automatic weapons, a class generally capable
of firing 45-60 rounds per minute. At the upper range, that’s a bullet per
second. So forgive me if I’m indifferent to cries of responsible gun ownership
or Second Amendment rights.
Here’s a thing. The United States has the highest per capita
rate of gun ownership in the world, a rate of approximately 88.8%, nearly 90
guns per every 100 people. It also has the highest rate of mass shootings in
the world, and I can’t help but think these things are connected.
Here’s a thing. People who like guns talk about responsible
gun ownership and I’m guessing that most people who own guns think they’re
pretty responsible. The man in the SUV who waved a
gun in my friend’s face probably thought that was a reasonable reaction to a
pedestrian who flipped him off. The man who accidently shot his son to death in
a parking lot probably thought he was a responsible gun owner until that gun unexpectedly discharged. And I’m guessing that the mother of the Newtown shooter
thought she was a responsible gun owner until the day her son shot her with her own gun and then pumped multiple bullets into the bodies of children.
I get the Second Amendment. Really I do. I also get that it calls for a
well-regulated militia. Leaving that aside, here’s what a gun looked like at
the time the constitution was written.
I’m hardly an expert on the subject, but
as I understand it, these were muzzle-loaded guns that had to be reloaded after
each shot. The guns that shot young children to death are capable of firing approximately
a bullet a second. See the difference?
I get that people want to own guns. I get that the Supreme
Court has upheld the right to own guns. What I don’t get is why a civilian needs
this type of weaponry for either hunting or for self-defense. What kind of
threat do you imagine that requires the need to pump a bullet per second into
human flesh?
I can think of only one, and it’s called the Zombie Apocalypse.
Those zombies just keep coming and there are a lot of them. I can imagine that
a person’s odds would be better if they could just keep shooting, but the only
thing that stops them is a shot to the brain, so you would either need a large
caliber, one that would split a zombie skull instantly, or you’d better be a
good shot and get the eye socket on the first try.
Personally, I don’t worry about this scenario and my guess
is that you don’t, either. So I can still see no reason for a civilian to have
multiple automatic or semi-automatic weapons. They’re never a good accessory in
a movie theater, a school, a mall or even a dinner party. You believe in the
right to own a gun? OK. Make them harder to get and ban assault weapons and we
just might have something to talk about.
I keep thinking about a day 15 years ago. My daughter
attended a Montessori-style New York City public school and the first grade
class was doing a unit of study about books. Vicky’s teacher asked me if I’d
come in and talk to the kids about how books get made, and I was delighted to do
so. I remember sitting on the floor with nearly 30 six-year-olds, all eagerness
and enthusiasm for a new person and learning a new thing. They all had
questions and they were all so excited to tell me what they knew already.
I keep thinking about an alternate reality in which I went
back to work and got a call telling me there was a shooting, that most of those
same kids were dead.
Vicky is safely at college in Ohio, but I can’t stop crying
for those kids, both the ones in Connecticut and my memory of that class at
P.S. 234. I hope they’re all safe and leading happy lives.
Stop the madness. Call your senators and congresscritters
and tell them you want meaningful gun control. And listen to this, from The West Wing. It's the single best minute ever written about gun control, which is why Aaron Sorkin has all those awards.
