Shooting attempt creates new, but futile, gun control demands

 

Shooting attempt creates new, but futile, gun control demands

Should focus on uses, not ownership

 

Gordon L. Weil

Each time the U.S. undergoes a mass shooting or an attack on an elected official, calls are immediately raised for additional gun control.  Usually, those calls go unanswered.

The frequent reply is that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”  States may pass so-called red or yellow flag laws, allowing for temporarily taking firearms away from individuals with possible mental health problems.  Their effect is limited.

At the same time, gun sales may increase as the industry reacts by raising fears of possible government restrictions on gun ownership, though the manufacturers and the NRA succeed in blocking any such proposals.

It’s true that, by themselves, guns don’t kill people.  Does their ready availability make them the obvious tool of choice for people in responding to politics, personal disputes, or despair?   Is gun use a routine part of the national culture?

Most attacks on political figures are by zealots, driven so deeply into opposition that they seek to make a public statement or eliminate the person they hold responsible.  The shooter at last week’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner had an avowed grievance with President Trump and his administration.

Political shootings are a long-standing America tradition (three presidential assassinations between 1865 and 1901 plus two more attempts by 1933).  They continue, reflecting the deep divide in the country’s political life.  No longer does one party respect the patriotism of the other party, while opposing its policies.  The opposition has become a disloyal enemy. 

Trump has said he “hates” the Democrats, which he has labeled as “the enemy within.”  In full fury, he has called the Democratic Party as “the Party of Hate, Evil and Satan.”  That’s the language of war, not the language of open political communication.  It may last so long as MAGA Republicanism dominates politics, and Democrats respond to it.

While armed attacks on public officials of both parties and mass shootings, often at schools, raise legitimate outrage at gun violence, they miss a central fact about guns.  More than 60 percent of gun deaths in the U.S. are suicides.  Their deaths are as much a sign of a troubled health care system with its questionable focus on mental problems as of a failure to control guns.

Guns are widely available and easy to use, making them a ready method to express anger or eliminate personal woes.  The U.S. leads the world with 121 firearms per 100 inhabitants.  Canada comes in second with 35 per 100.  In last place among leading nations is Japan with less than one gun per 100 people.

How does that translate into firearms deaths? The U.S. is second to gang-ridden Brazil and has 11 deaths per 100,000 population.  Canada has two and Japan has less then one per 100,000.

The differing death rates may reflect gun control.  Rules are extremely tough in Japan.  Canada licenses owners and requires registration, but little is done in the U.S. and Brazil.  While most countries have “stand your ground” laws, many impose a burden of proof on shooters and the need for proportionality, unlike many American states.

American history may help explain the clear difference between the U.S. and other countries.  The nation once depended heavily on state militias, military units composed of average people trained and on-call in an emergency.  Citizens kept their rifles at home, ready for a militia call-out.

Unlike older nations, the U.S. had a huge frontier.  With little government, if any, the pioneers were responsible for enforcing laws and local practices in the West.  The frontier disappeared but not the frontier mentality.  People have stuck with their sense of independence, especially as the government became more entwined with their lives. 

Many people strongly adhere to a tradition embodied in the Second Amendment, adopted in 1791.  Powerful and well-funded political forces protect a narrow interpretation of that amendment against gun reform.

Limiting the use of firearms has become a partisan issue.  The Republicans adopt wedge issues on which voters focus and vote, while ignoring the rest of the GOP agenda.  Gun control, drawing on national tradition, works well as a wedge issue.  

Shootings are likely to continue, and gun control laws could pass only after greater, sustained, and widespread outrage.  The government won’t be authorized to seize personal firearms, and widespread gun ownership makes some effective control almost impossible.

Future policy will continue to grapple unsatisfactorily with firearms.   Unnecessary deaths will continue.  The focus needs to be more on gun use than on limiting gun ownership.

Militias are gone, so a major justification for keeping guns at home could be replaced by financial incentives providing for safe, offsite storage at ranges and shooting galleries.

Mandatory registration does not mean confiscation, as Canada shows, and despite gun industry claims. It makes sense for law enforcement.  Plus, politicians should disarm their irresponsibly heated rhetoric.

 

Antisemitism, the latest wedge issue

Gordon L. Weil

In his 100-day whirlwind, President Trump has transformed a public concern into a mega-wedge issue.  It’s antisemitism.

He uses charges of antisemitism to attack institutions and show his support for Israel.  While antisemitism is real and historic, Trump exploits it to drive a political wedge that could bring him added support, based on his position on this single issue.

The 2023 Hamas attack on Israel provided the fuel for his policy.  Most of the world was shocked by the brutal raid, killing and kidnapping and agreed that Israel was entitled to act to prevent any recurrence.  The unchecked power of Hamas had to be ended.  Jews across the world joined in this sentiment.

In its retaliation and counterattack, Israel not only went after Hamas but also hit innocent Palestinians, first in Gaza and then on the West Bank, presumably to undermine any possible support for Hamas.  Israel appears to leverage its Hamas response to repress or expel Palestinians, so it can ultimately exercise total control over the former territory of Palestine.

Just as great sympathy had been shown for Israelis in the wake of the Hamas attack, sympathy also emerged for the many Palestinians, not Hamas activists, who saw their families, homes, and hospitals devastated.  Some worried about the fate of the Palestinians, though among them were those who went overboard and backed Hamas.

This is the point where U.S. antisemitism became an issue. 

With the second largest Jewish population in the world, the politics of this issue divide American Jews. They all continue to be concerned about their survival as a small minority among the world’s billions, but they disagree on the current events in the Middle East.

For some, support for Israel, a Jewish state, is essential to their beliefs, making it a large part of how they define themselves as Jews.  Their support for Israel readily translates into support for any actions taken by the Israeli government under Netanyahu.  In short, backing the Israeli government, no matter what it does, has become an integral part of their faith.

Other American Jews base their faith less on Israel and more on their traditions and shared values.  While they support Israel’s existence, they focus on protecting and improving the lives of others.  In recent decades, this has become frequently expressed as a duty to “repair the world.”  That belief can lead to opposition to Israel’s aggressive, sometimes brutal, tactics.

Trump agrees with the pro-Netanyahu hard-right views.  Jews and others who oppose Israel’s repression of the Palestinians are labelled as being self-hating or antisemitic. 

Trump may exploit antisemitism as a way of gaining support in the Jewish community, which has usually voted strongly Democratic.  This is what happened in the recent Canadian elections, when a Trump-like Conservative picked up some traditional Liberal Party supporters. He also appeals to Christian conservatives, who see Israel’s existence as central to their own beliefs. 

Labeling opposition to the Israeli government and showing support for non-violent Palestinians as antisemitism dismisses deeply held beliefs in the Jewish community.  Those who express these views, even Jews, become targets for political retaliation and may threaten their freedom of speech.

Anti-Arab militants, whether for racist or political reasons, claim that supporters of beleaguered Palestinians are antisemitic.  That makes it impossible for a person either to see some merit on both sides or to reject both sides. 

For people who want to suppress Arabs, the Israeli government has become the authority on who is a good Jew, defined as those who share that view.  To be clear, Israel cannot “excommunicate” a Jew.  That is an individual’s decision.

Trump’s allies in Congress could deem criticism of Israel virtually illegal through a definition of antisemitism in proposed new legislation.   They are forcing Jewish members of Congress to face a choice between backing Trump and seeming to be indifferent to antisemitism.

“We are witnessing the co-opting of the fight against antisemitism to pursue unrelated, authoritarian goals by the Trump Administration, and the so-called Antisemitism Awareness Act will give them another tool,” wrote one leader of a Jewish group opposing the bill.  “Antisemitism is a serious problem,” he said, “but this legislation combined with the current administration’s actions aren’t making Jewish Americans any safer.”

By politicizing antisemitism, Trump may make the situation worse.  He increases an unwanted focus on American Jews and adds to national divisiveness.  He uses this policy to attack institutions that foster free speech and open debate.  Is it wise to end funding for some of the world’s best scientific research, because a university administration badly handled a campus protest?

Trump has taken extreme action in withholding federal funding to kill “woke” efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion for some groups.  But his singular and favored focus on antisemitism makes it appear that for one group, he, too, is “woke.”