This weekend, in two separate incidents, troubled and terrorist white men went and killed 29 people in mass shootings. We grieve and mourn and proclaim 'thoughts and prayers'. And everytime this happens we seek to change hearts. We continue to wonder whether we are next. We hope that something, anything, will change.
One of the things that is screamed anytime this happens is a demand for more gun control legislation. The blood is on the hands of the NRA and the conservatives who continue to resist these things, it is claimed. Occasionally there will be some slight reform in background checks and waiting periods and in the particular types of weapons that can be purchased. But it's still easier to get a gun in this country than it is to get many medications or health care.
I don't know all the answers, because there are at least three main obstacles to real change. First, it is estimated that 300 million guns already exist in this country, enough for every man, woman, and child to have one. Outlawing the sales of guns tomorrow will not change the fact that these guns are already out there...and since they are made of metal they are not biodegradable. The poison is already in the system. We should have done something about this a half century ago when that guy went up and started shooting from the tower at UT-Austin. But we didn't, and now we are reaping the fruit of our inaction.
Second, many of these 300 million guns are owned by people who love them more than life itself and will fight to keep them from being taken away. For decades now part of the fear-mongering of the gun lobby is that 'the government will only take these guns from our cold, dead hands', and I fear that there would be dozens, if not hundreds of shootouts if law enforcement comes to seize guns. It makes me think of our country almost two centuries ago...the 'peculiar institution' slavery was a cultural way of life for many to the point that an entire civil war was fought to defend it, and over half a million people died. And even if we fought that war to take the guns away from the diehards, do we really think that we would get them all? Because these guns have mostly not been registered and traced over the years, how many tens of millions would be hidden away in the meantime?
Finally, extreme gun control denies the fact that some think that they genuinely need protection. This may be a rural thing, in that many do not have effective law enforcement nearby in case of trouble...but even within the city, some hold onto guns not to kill but to protect their families. I feel for those who live their lives in fear to the point that they arm themselves, and while I feel that many of the fears are unfounded (and arming oneself only exacerbates the problem, not solves it), people do what they feel is right to defend their property and family. I can respect that.
So, what do we do? I do think that legislation banning most future gun sales is a better option than doing nothing. I believe that we need to work on the hearts of the people who have been told for decades that violence is the best response to threat. And I believe that we need to find ways to register and make traceable the many guns that are out there and make gun owners liable for their weapons, much as in the OT law people were liable for the violent behavior of their animals (Exodus 21:29).
But one action that I think would be effective but I've never heard mentioned to me is the simplest of all solutions: ban and/or severely restrict and legislate the sale of ammunition. Guns don't kill people...ammunition kills people! Yes, there are certainly billions of pieces of ammunition out there now, and any future ammunition must be easily traceable by law enforcement, again making it easier to catch future violent offenders.
Let's go further: Even if there are billions of rounds out there, why do we keep adding to the stockpiles? Want to go and shoot off your guns at a range because you have the need to express yourself that way? Every bullet you shoot is accounted for, and every bullet is heavily taxed with the proceeds going towards gun violence. Police and military bullets? Again, heavily regulated, with soldiers and police having to account for all their weaponry and severe consequences abound when they go missing.
Perhaps someday all the stored up ammunition would be used up, and those who decide commit murder will have to return to the old fashioned weapons of stone and knives. People will always still be killed, because violence is inherent in fallen humanity; but perhaps there will be a lot less killed if they can't shoot off 60 rounds in a minute because they couldn't find ammunition to purchase.
Why does this have to be so hard? Nothing we do will change things overnight...but we can at least start now so that 50 years from we don't keep having this problem.
