This commentary was postponed from the June Labor Paper because space and time were tight and, after all, we feared that for all the attention to the Uvalde, Texas, school slaughter, other mass shootings were tragically inevitable.
It’s heartbreaking that we were right.
The column is late but long and getting longer.
In Highland Park, Ill., a young man with a high-powered rifle randomly shot at people crowded along a parade route for the Independence Day celebration, killing seven and wounding dozens.
That same holiday weekend saw mass shootings in Boston, Kansas City, Richmond, Va., and Sacramento; the Memorial Day weekend saw 12 mass shootings nationwide. Other recent mass shootings besides Uvalde were in Buffalo, Chattanooga, Philadelphia, Tulsa and Vestavia, Ala. In Illinois, we’ve suffered mass shootings in Aurora (2019), DeKalb (2008) and Melrose Park (2001).
The AFL-CIO says organized labor must address the issue.
“This is a workplace issue. This is a school issue. This is a community issue,” the labor federation said. “That makes it a labor issue. Working people deserve safe workplaces without fear of a mass shooting. And America’s children deserve to learn and thrive in safe schools.”
An astounding 311,000 school kids have experienced gun violence since the Columbine shootings in 1999, when 12 students and 1 teacher were murdered, the Washington Post found.
“This is the land of the free, where a boy in Texas can turn 18, buy semi-automatic rifles the next day, and then kill 21 people within the week,” said National Education Association President Becky Pringle – who said some fearful school children have written their wills!
After the National Rifle Association reacted to the July 4 shooting by saying, “since 1950, 94% of mass public shootings occurred in gun-free zones,” a furious Gov. Pritzker responded to the NRA by saying, “Leave us the hell alone … 100% of mass public shootings happen with guns.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey initially commented, “Let’s pray for justice to prevail and then let’s move on…" but after considerable blowback he apologized for the insensitive remark
This isn’t a progressive vs. conservative debate. Conservative columnist Mona Charon criticizes Right-wing voices that say mass shootings are a small part of the violence in the country.
“Massacres at supermarkets, churches, classrooms, sopping malls, and good God, July 4th parades are not like other violence,” she wrote. “It’s like terrorism. It invades the normal, peaceful world – the places in which we must feel secure.
“These mass shootings are a greater threat to our security than Islamic terrorism was.”
The statistics are staggering. This year, the country’s had more than 300 mass shootings (those with at least four fatalities). Before Uvalde, the year already had had 27 school shootings alone, according to Education Week, which tracks them, and gun purchases broke records in 2020 and 2021, when 43 million more guns were bought.
U.S. mayors are angry, too. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor (a former police chief), told the New York Times, “Are we going to continue to just see these mass shootings, and everyone sends their prayers and their sympathies, but no action is taken? As a nation, we have to make a decision — we are in that inflection point right now.”
Doctors stress the public-health aspect. The American Pediatric Association (APSA) in June called for a new federal assault weapons ban on military-style firearms:
“During the decade of the previous ban, public mass shootings and deaths decreased. These weapons have the capacity for rapid fire and large numbers of rounds between reloads, which increases their lethality and the number of victims. The APSA acknowledges the 2nd Amendment and the right to responsible gun ownership. However, assault weapons – used in many locations including Newtown, San Bernadino, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, and Uvalde (each incident killing more than a dozen people) – have no place in the civilian arena.”
Or, have such crises became so commonplace they’re routine? Acceptable?
Schools have “safety plans” and active-shooter drills, and media now follow such tragedies with advice on “How to talk to your kids about mass shootings,” and lists for places that help with counseling and coping
Shockingly, sadly, a June CBS News/YouGov poll showed that 44% of Republicans agreed that mass shootings are “something we have to accept as part of free society.”
Meanwhile, the labor group Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) this month is holding its Peoria County conservation dinner benefiting the Labor Temple. Besides food and drink, it will off Remington 783 files to some sponsors. Many of those gathered will be hunters, and I have friends who hunt. However, they use deer rifles, .22s and shotguns, not weapons specifically designed to use against human beings in war or law enforcement. Further, the USA’s mission – conserving and maintaining wildlife habitats, improving access to the outdoors, restoring parks, and mentoring youth about the outdoors – underscores how comfortable their get-togethers are. Sensible sportsmen and -women identify with the victims, not the criminals.
Steve Guilliti, a retired Iron Worker, comments, “I am a gun owner, a onetime competitive rifleman on a high school rifle team, a USCG Rifle Expert and Pistol Sharpshooter, a former member of the NRA and a onetime avid duck and bird hunter. I am in no way opposed to individuals owning firearms for hunting, target shooting, because they regularly carry large amounts of cash in the course of their business activities, or the defense of their hearth, home and person if they think that too is required. That said, having handled automatic weapons I can't see why anyone would need to own one other than the military, a law enforcement agency or a gun club which might have a few around so as to provide its membership with the thrill of shooting one off within the confines of their property and only there.”
Some say mass shootings stem from mental illness, easy access, or the increasing social schism dividing Americans. But the mentally ill are more likely to be victims than assailants, data show. Mentally ill shooters are just 1% of the perpetrators, so 99% aren’t mentally ill (apart from the assertion that ANY killer is emotionally damaged)..
It’s undeniable that buying weapons is easy There are an estimated 400 million guns in the United States (although it’s difficult to be exact since private transactions at gun shows or online can’t be accurately counted).
And can political polarization really be blamed?
“Many other countries have disadvantaged folks who are angry and alienated,” said Richard Berk, professor emeritus of criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, talking to the Washington Post. “But guns aren’t there.”
Others blame courts’ modern interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.
Conservative columnist George Will said, “The 2nd Amendment is the only one in the Bill of Rights with a preamble: ‘A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.’
“The amendment was 217 years old before the court held that it protected the gun rights of individuals, irrespective of membership in a militia,” Will added.
And conservative Republican Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger in 1991 was more blunt, saying that the contention that the 2nd Amendment gives citizens an unrestricted right to a gun is “a fraud on the American public.”
But lobbyists like the NRA intimidate too many lawmakers.
On Capitol Hill, a modest bipartisan measure curbing gun sales to those younger than 21, improving background checks, etc., passed the House 234-193 and the Senate 65-33; 226 legislators voted against even these minor changes.
States by themselves can’t fully address the crisis. Illinois has tighter laws than Indiana, Kentucky or Missouri, but guns cross borders. Still, Illinois lawmakers are working on dealing with military-style weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines.
“Everything has to be on the table,” said State Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield).
The Highland Park shooter, police said, used a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semiautomatic; the M&P designates Military & Police.
State Rep. Maura Hirschauer (D-Batavia) said, “The general public in Illinois has clearly said that those types of weapons are designed for the battlefield, not for hunting or any reasonable use.”
Elsewhere, others are trying to find innovative answers. For example, lawsuits are increasingly possible against gun manufacturers, who aren’t protected from relevant state laws about consumer-protection and advertising regulations, as Sandy Hook families showed.
“There is now significant case law from around the country that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act [passed in 2005] does not give gun companies sweeping immunity from lawsuits,” said Jonathan Lowy, chief counsel at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Gun manufacturers and dealers can be liable in numerous cases.”
A creative idea is a suggestion from U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) to impose a 1,000% tax on purchases of military-style guns, which could be considered without the threat of a Senate filibuster since it’s a tax matter.
There must be ways lawmakers could reduce gun violence. Gun owners in every state could be required to be licensed to own guns, as they are to drive cars.
Such reforms are premised on whether there’s the political will to respond to the overwhelming public support for better laws – if lawmakers could muster as much concern for the country as they do for their positions and power.
Until unreasonable and/or selfish leaders stop denying that guns contribute to the carnage, kids, cops, worshippers, shoppers and anyone going about their regular activities will keep getting shot.
George Tanner, an 83-year-old retired teacher and father, grandfather and great-grandfather, is also is poet. This month he wrote:
I’m thinking…
That Abe should have stayed home lon theater night
And JFK, on Dallas Day, should have taken another street.
Martin should have slept in the car, Bobby left by the front door.
We mourn the loss of these great men, yet still kiss up to the gun.
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