Opinion: Guns are the problem, but we are too

The issue around firearms in America is one that I have sadly become all too familiar with. I was born in Arkansas and I’ve spent my life living in the South and Midwest or visiting my family in these areas that are notoriously supportive of gun ownership. I myself have been a gun owner. I know firsthand that when used responsibly, guns can be used for work like killing vermin that are destroying crops and for recreational purposes like hunting. I also have spent the other half of my life living in cities in the south and up north. Cities like Jacksonville Florida, which has some of the highest rates of gun violence in the nation.

I also have intimate experience with gun violence. A drive-by targeting my neighbors in 2022 sent bullets into my home, nearly hitting me. A shooting at a bar a block away sent bullets into my parent’s car in 2019, and I have also been affected by 4 different mass shootings. The 2018 Jacksonville Landing shooting which occurred at a place I used to frequent with my family, The 2023 Jacksonville shooting which occurred in a neighborhood where many of my friends still live, the Bowie State University shooting where a childhood friend of mine attends, and the recent Lewiston Maine shooting where some of my family lives. I am only 22 years old, I should not have this many brushes with gun violence already. No one of any age should have to deal with what I have dealt with.

There is always a lot of blame getting thrown around in these situations. Blame the media for “glorifying” the shooters, blame the gun companies for selling the guns, blame the victims for not owning guns, blame the NRA, blame the gun control activists, blame the shooters for being mentally ill, blame the police, blame everybody. Things get so worn down and so destructive so quickly with the same tired talking points that people give up. It’s easy to want to give up, the problem seems so unsolvable.

It can be solved however, but until that can be done a lot of people are going to have to do a lot of soul searching. Gun Ownership is enshrined by the Second Amendment and it is a cornerstone of American culture that is still part of the way of life of millions of Americans in rural areas. It is also far too easy to own a firearm in this country and many of the gun control proposals that have been put forth do not address the root causes of gun violence.

So what are the root causes of gun violence? Well it’s a shockingly simple answer, it’s the same things that cause violence combined with the ease of access to firearms. Addressing the root causes of one problem but not the other will not deal with the wider epidemic of death, destruction, and trauma. We must start, obviously, with the guns themselves. The most common response by pro-gun groups is that ease of access to guns will prevent gun violence but much of this violence is happening in states with gun laws so relaxed they hardly have any restrictions, not even if you have a restraining order out against you.

On the other hand gun control advocates push for banning guns but that on its own also doesn’t work. You can legally own a flame thrower, mortar launcher, machine gun, and even more in this country and yet there has never been a mass shooting or terrorist attack with these weapons because the people who have access to these weapons have been thoroughly vetted and I would argue more importantly are licensed to own them. Firearms are deadly weapons, that is their purpose, to kill. Allowing any average Joe to purchase a firearm with no background check is silly, and even when universal background checks are implemented things often slip through the cracks as we do not enforce our gun safety laws and regulations as strenuously as we should. Enforcing what we already have, implementing universal background checks, and implementing a licensing process to own a firearm to show both mental and physical competence to own a gun safely will greatly reduce the amount of access those who will not be responsible gun owners have to firearms. Once again this only solves one-half of the problem, even when we passed similar federal legislation in the 1990s it failed to limit crime, just gun crime.

So what’s the bigger picture? What causes crime and violence? Well, we know the answers; poverty and mental illness. Poverty in its extremes over long periods of time can lead to desperation to get out of poverty or to escape the pain caused by poverty. Mental illness if left untreated can lead to erratic behaviors and self-medication. This is not to say that the mentally ill or poor are all criminals because they are not. This is to say however that sometimes when you have a person who is mentally ill and/or poor who does not have a clear way out of that situation it can lead to crime, sometimes even violence, and when you have access to a firearm sometimes even gun violence. We know how to address poverty and many of our mental health issues. Public and private investments into creating good-paying jobs, infrastructure improvements, education, a lower cost of living, and public services to supplement the system could pull millions above the poverty line and dramatically reduce rates of stress, depression, addiction, and crime. When combined with serious investments in helping the chronically mentally ill as well as the aforementioned gun control policies we can dramatically reduce rates of not just gun violence, but all crime across the board. While we will never be able to fully solve the problem, but we have the power to limit the number of victims from the tens of thousands down to just tens by the end of the decade if we vote for the people who will implement all of the policies named above.

(This article was featured on the Wednesday, November 8, 2023 volume of the Youngtown Edition)