At last week's Republican CNN/YouTube Debate, the four major topics for discussion were immigration, Iraq, the Second Amendment and America's financial situation. As contentious as each of those issues are, the most disconcerting answers came on questions regarding guns and gun laws. It seemed each candidate was trying to outgun his foes. Duncan Hunter of California bragged about getting his first hunting license at ten-years-old and described in detail a gun he had just recently purchased. It is frightening to see such educated men so thoroughly defend the right to bear arms.
When riding the Massachusetts Turnpike into Boston, a 252-foot billboard in the back of Fenway Park greets drivers with this ominous message in newspaper type print: "We have your President and Congress-NRA." In years past, the billboard featured the pictures of 15 children who were killed by gun violence accompanied by text boasting "You're More Likely to Live Here" because the state has some of the most effective gun laws in the country. The proliferation of guns and the ease of purchasing such tools of death must be curtailed if the United States ever hopes to see its disgusting gun violence rate fall below its current, barbarous level.
In the United Kingdom, home to just under 60 million people, there were only 247 shootings in the three-year period from 2001 to 2004. By a point of comparison, California with its population of over 36 million witnessed the deaths by gun of 3,323 people in 2004. On a larger scale, the United States, with just five times as many people as the UK, suffered 11,346 homicides by firearm in 2005 alone. The UK has banned the possession of handguns since a 17-person massacre in 1997. Even after the Columbine massacre and the spate of school shootings that have occurred since, Congress and the president did not renew the ban on assault weapons. You cannot own a simple handgun in the United Kingdom, but in the United States, if you want to walk around with the world famous AK-47, no one's stopping you.
What about the 32 people who were killed just last year at Virginia Tech? In the aftermath, the university was slammed for missing the warning signs and the police department was criticized for its response. What of the killer's ability to arm himself with the guns he used in the attack? Congress and President Bush have only considered forbidding the purchase of guns by people demonstrating a mental disability.
In addition to school shootings, guns play an important role in inner-city violence. When asked about stemming gang violence at the Republican CNN/YouTube Debate Mitt Romney stressed the importance of having stable two-parent families. Obviously, a single parent may not be around his or her family as much as is desired, but there are other factors at play.
While ignoring poverty and the availability of guns, Romney immediately blamed the rate of out-of-wedlock births in the African-American community. He then suggested that he will focus on providing an education to inner-city youths to prepare them for the "jobs of tomorrow." These are only some of the possible solutions to one of the most important questions of our time: how do we erase violence from inner-cities?
Preventing the flow of guns into urban areas is one of the keys to reducing homicides. Rudy Giuliani was booed for arguing in favor of certain federal restrictions on the purchase of guns. His critics should let the statistics speak for themselves. While he was mayor, shootings dropped by 74 percent and homicides by 67 percent. He credited this to the enforcement of gun laws. Really, what is more important: People having guns to hunt and show off, or reducing the likelihood of horrible school massacres and brutal gangland killings?
There is a scene in The West Wing in which members of Jed Bartlett's staff argue with a Republican over guns. One staffer notes that the men who had just recently attacked the president, "bought guns, loaded them, drove from Wheeling to Roslyn and, until they fired them, they had yet to commit a crime." The too many perpetrators of even more school massacres bought guns legally or used their parents' guns.
The kids on the corners of inner cities have guns made available because of the enormous illegal gun industry in this country. How long will it take for reality to set in? The Second Amendment allows guns for the militia. Drug dealers do not make up the militia. Hunters are not the militia. The mafia is not the militia. We have a militia; it's called the National Guard. The next president of the United States must acknowledge this truth and force through Congress a real gun law - one that makes cities and schools safer.
Nick Milano writes on Thursdays. He can be reached at nmilano@student.umass.edu.
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