Discussing the lack of U.S. policy change
It’s been 18 years today since the 9/11 attack. Now that school has started back up with the class of 2023, it’s become apparent that the oldest students here at St. Joe’s were only about three when the events of that day transpired. As for this new group of first year students? They were either one year olds, or were not yet born.
Therefore, what this generation knows when it comes to defining terrorism consists almost solely of internal threats. And more specifically, much of what we truly know is gun violence.
We read about the deaths on Twitter. We see live stories on Snapchat taking us through mass shootings as if they were just another video that can be posted to YouTube. Politicians and talking heads bring up the partisan debate on all major news networks. And then we forget about it.
Sure, gun violence in the U.S. is brought up in political debates or as a hot topic on Twitter for one day when the National Rifle Association (NRA) ticked off somebody else. But nothing changes.
After the shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, the country “proposed buy-back of semi-automatic firearms could cost as much as $300 million NZD ($200 million),” Winston Peters, the country ’s deputy prime minister, said.
After the shooting in Tasmania, Australia in 1996, the lawmakers pushed “changes to gun laws that included lengthy background and identification checks for would-be gun buyers, and a ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons.”
But after the most recent shooting in El Paso, all the U.S. got was, “Walmart announced it would stop selling ammunition for military-style assault rifles and no longer allow customers to openly carry firearms in their stores.”
We let the discussions surrounding mass shootings and tragedy only scratch the surface level of where the issue lies. The issue lies primarily in the Constitution, and yet that remains a meager fragment of what the nation discusses after witnessing such an awful amount of death.
According to Foreign Policy, “there are only three countries that have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms: Mexico, Guatemala, and the United States.” So, It’s no wonder that in the U.S. in 2019 alone since Sept. 9, there have been 39,000 gun related incidents, 10,305 gun-related deaths and 20,588 gun-related injuries. If those numbers aren’t enough for you, take a look at the special 12-page print from Aug. 11 in the Washington Post, where they list off all 1,196 mass shooting victims since 1996.
This cycle will just keep continuing. Right now in Congress, “Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and House need to approve spending bills to avoid another government shutdown…A string of mass shootings in August that left more than 50 dead also added a contentious debate about gun control measures to the fall agenda.”
Gun control is a talking point. Mass shootings are a campaign highlight for politicians. But nothing is going to change. It takes over 10,000 deaths in just one year (not even the year in full), in order for politicians to start talking again about how they can make the country safer. Maybe.
It’s disheartening that we are to put faith into our government to make these changes and to codify policy that will keep citizens safe. As of now according to Everytown data, “95% of Americans nationwide backed universal background checks and 85% favored the passage of so-called ‘red flag’ laws, which are designed to prohibit individuals from purchasing firearms if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others. A 61% majority of Americans blamed gun violence on easy access to firearms.” Yet nothing has changed.
Since 9/11, all this generation really knows is violence from the inside because nothing is being done to stop this violence at the core of the problem.
From Sandy Hook, to Parkland, to Las Vegas, to Charleston. From Texas to Orlando, and Virginia Beach to Dayton, this list continues.
We only know acts of violence within our borders. As long as we keep avoiding the discussion, and refuse to acknowledge that gun violence is a true epidemic in this country, we will continue to live in the status quo where the right to a gun is more important than the right to live.
—The Editorial Board
This week’s Editorial Board is comprised of the Editor in Chief, Managing Editor, Digital Managing Editor, News Editor, Assistant News Editor, Assistant Features Editor, Online Editor, Opinions Editor and Assistant Opinions Editor. This editorial reflects the views of the Board and not the entire Hawk staff.