Gun Control

This past weekend Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords from Arizona was shot and badly injured by a lone gunman. While she was the suspect’s stated target, along the way he killed 6 people (including a girl that was only 9 years old, as well as a federal judge), and wounded 13 others. Now this is obviously an act of extremism, and has been loudly denounced by both sides of the aisle, but while Democrats, who are serious about passing gun laws and taking the vitriol out of politics, can actually back up their speech against violence, hate, and intolerance, Republicans are once again talking out of both sides of their collective mouth—indeed, it is their hate filled rhetoric and the irresponsibility of their media that are directly responsible for the heinous acts that occurred on this past Saturday, January 8th, 2011.
If you’re unfamiliar with the trash they spew on conservative talk radio, or the awful things people like Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity say on a daily basis, consider yourself lucky. O’Reilly has basically had a man killed. He mentioned Dr. George Tiller (who O’Reilly nicknamed “the baby killer”), an abortion provider in Kansas, nearly 30 times on his show over the course of 4 years, saying things like, “if the state of Kansas doesn’t stop this man, then anybody who prevents that from happening has blood on their hands as the governor does right now, Governor Sebelius,” and, ““No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands. But now so does Governor Sebelius. She is not fit to serve. Nor is any Kansas politician who supports Tiller’s business of destruction. I wouldn’t want to be these people if there is a Judgment Day. I just — you know … Kansas is a great state, but this is a disgrace upon everyone who lives in Kansas. Is it not?” Tiller was shot and killed on May 31st, 2009.
But O’Reilly isn’t alone in his violent rhetoric. Consider what Representative Michelle Bachman (R-Minnesota) said on the radio in the Spring of 2009, “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back.” This type of hate speech absolutely permeates the right wing media’s atmosphere. Obviously, pundits are going to deny that it is their intent that anyone actually be killed, but once the words leave their mouth that choice is no longer up to them.
It is extremely frustrating too, that so many Americans believe that “both sides” are wrong, or misdirected. That is a blatant false equivalency. The fact is that while the tenor of the conversation on both sides is heated, there are several key differences:
1) Liberals have much less reason to lie, misdirect, or mislead people, and as a consequence, they don’t. Think about the key issues Democrats are concerned with: health care, economic development and fairness (in a nutshell, creating jobs that pay a living wage), regulating banks and corporations so that they don’t harm or take advantage of consumers, effective foreign policy, cutting the military budget, and ensuring equality for people regardless of their race, color, creed, sexual orientation, or religious background. Most people genuinely support these issues if you take partisanship out of the mix, because it is simply in their best interest, so there is really no reason to lie or mislead people to generate political support.
Republicans, on the other hand, have to manufacture reasons why people should vote against their best interests—they have to find some reason that people should want to deny their friends and neighbors health care, that we should allow corporations and banks to be unregulated despite the danger this poses to consumers, and that we should deny equality and economic opportunity regardless of one’s backgrounds or beliefs. If the Republican philosophy of government worked, our country and economy would be thriving right now; instead, the reality is that our nation is falling apart in almost every way possible. Therefore, the only way for conservatives to convince people that they should support an agenda and worldview that has failed, is to lie, misdirect, and use fear to confuse and deceive; whereas liberals, while equally passionate, simply do not need to fool people to advance their agenda.
2) While liberals certainly get angry about disagreements on policy (and the fact that conservatives are constantly lying and obfuscating the truth), I can’t recall a single time when I’ve heard a liberal radio host or television pundit call for the use of violence to accomplish political goals, or suggested that people go buy, or brandish, guns. And I listen to liberal radio almost every day.
On the other side of the aisle, instances where conservative pundits, not to mention Republican politicians, reference or allude to the use of guns and violence to solve problems, are abundant, as I’ve illustrated above. They also tolerate hate and extremism at their political rallies, such as when their supporters show pictures depicting Obama as a terrorist or witch doctor, instead of showing true leadership by telling people to calm down.
The real concern is that this type of rhetoric, combined with the idea that people should own guns and resort to violence, is a theme for Republicans and their conservative followers. At the recent debate to see who will become the GOP’s next chairperson, one of the questions the candidates were asked was, “how many guns they owned?”
Let’s be perfectly clear: people in today’s modern society do not need to own guns, and certainly not guns that have as their chief purpose the killing of human beings. If someone wants to own a gun and keep it in the home for self-defense, or someone wants to own a gun to hunt with, then fine, but how long are we going to allow these types of killings to go on without taking real action? How many massacres are we going to suffer before the American public gets serious about controlling guns, and putting a stop to gun violence?
At this point, I think every American citizen owes it to our society to make a stand. When we see Fox news on at the gym, we should tell the people working that they are spewing hate speech at their place of business. When conservatives talk about the second amendment, ask them whether it protects their right to own a nuclear bomb, or if there should be limits on what types of weapons people can own and use?
At the very least, we should start holding the merchants of guns and ammunition accountable. If a bullet or gun is sold at a store, and that bullet or gun ends up killing someone unlawfully, then the seller should be responsible for at least half of all monetary damages resulting from that crime.
Until we get serious about controlling weapons and the people that wield them in our society, things like what happened last Saturday are going to keep happening. And who knows? Next time, you may be standing next to the target. Or it might be your nine year old child.
Wake up conservatives.