Every time gun violence comes up in the news, I ask myself the same question: When will enough be enough?
Because never in a single conversation about firearms do I hear a convincing enough reason to accept the status quo.
Now, when we have entire conferences surrounding how to reduce youth violence with strategies that teach kids how to avoid injury, because teaching adults is not enough.
Now, when we have the sounds of gunfire ringing through city streets every night, with accidental shots regularly making their way through houses and somehow, even up to the seventh floor of our office building.
Yes, there is an individual responsibility component to the firearm discussion. But it isn’t enough.
What we desperately need to reduce gun violence are laws that prevent so many people from owning them in the first place.
There are those who say guns aren’t responsible for violence − the same idea as: “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.”
They liken a gun to other tools, as if guns weren’t created for the sole purpose of killing.
They urge personal responsibility.
But personal responsibility, accountability, crime enforcement – none of these are enough to quell the issue, because this is a human issue. And like it or not, humans make mistakes.
I have a story about a gun accident. It was Christmas Eve about five years ago, just before I had children. I was at my aunt and uncle’s house, talking with some family members in the front room while others sat at the dining table the next room over. Conversation filled the house.
Then, a bang.
It came from the dining room.
Aside from our ringing ears, the house fell silent.
A relative, a retired police officer, thought his safety was on when he pulled out his handgun to show it off and aimed it up at the ceiling. He was stone cold sober.
I imagine he dropped to his knees that night and thanked God no one was in the attic where the bullet traveled. It’s where I would go to hang out with my cousins as a child. It’s where my kids very well may have been playing had it happened a few years later.
He’s certainly not the only officer who has erred with a gun. There are no standardized reporting procedures for accidental firearm discharges by police, but as an example, the Los Angeles Police Department reported an average of seven accidental shots fired per year between 2018 and 2021.
Locally, there’s documentation of Akron Union President Brian Lucey accidentally discharging his firearm while on duty.
If even highly trained officers are prone to making mistakes with firearms, why would we expect everyday citizens to be more responsible?
And let’s face it: How much does personal accountability really matter when someone winds up dead?
So no, the primary blame shouldn’t be on children and teens with immature brains who get a hold of guns and act recklessly. It shouldn’t even be on adults who make mistakes with guns because they’ve bought into the idea that guns make them safer when they actually do the opposite. This problem goes beyond individuals.
The primary blame should be on gun lobbyists who pour more than $10 million into D.C. every year to push the narrative that guns make us safe and sell more firearms to citizens trying to do right by their families.
Secondary to blame are the politicians who accept this money and keep allowing mistakes to happen without taking action.
It’s tragic that the cork is already off the bottle on gun control; it’s estimated that there are more guns in the U.S. than people.
But that doesn’t mean tighter gun regulations are useless.
Required training before being allowed to own a firearm, restrictions on violent offenders owning a gun, higher age limits for possession, proof of gun safes in homes with children under 18, more state funding for gun buy-back programs, red flag laws — any one or combination of these would be at least a step in the right direction of reducing harm from guns.
Lawmakers love to label their bills as “common sense.” I can think of nothing more common sense than working toward a future that limits how deadly one mistake can be.And yet, the Ohio Senate is instead focused on passing legislation that penalizes cities and townships for trying to establish gun control policies their own residents support.
So instead of asking myself, today, I turn the question to our state lawmakers: When will enough be enough?
So, what do you think? Send me your thoughts at tbennett@usatodayco.com. To join in on weekly chats, sign up for our opinion newsletter, The Middle Ground.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Every gun is a mistake waiting to happen | Opinion
Reporting by Theresa Bennett, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Theresa Bennett, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
