The nationwide outrage against the National Rifle Association and our second Amendment rights to bear arms was sparked by the school shooting in Parkland, Florida and a group of understandably distraught teenagers who were outrageously and systematically used by the Democratic Party and the left-wing media to push their agenda to ban guns. That the shooting itself was wholly preventable is obvious, but it would not have been tougher gun laws which would have prevented it. In fact, if current gun laws had been followed, had the FBI followed through on the credible tips they were given, had the Broward Sheriff’s department reported the numerous times they were called to the Cruz home to respond to his violent outbursts, had the school district not implemented President Obama’s plan to avoid the “school-to-prison” policy by failing to report his violence at school to police, Cruz would never have had a gun, would no doubt have already been locked up somewhere, and 17 individuals would still be alive. When the current system fails, when the current laws are not followed, adding more laws will not solve the problem. So let’s put the blame where the blame belongs: at the feet of the FBI and the sheriff’s department and school officials in Broward County. Let’s look at a few other salient facts:
Broward County parents of special-needs students were laughed at during a school board meeting as they exposed how their children had been bullied, beaten that and bitten by tormentors without consequences in 2016, but no students walked out in their support. Nor did the media swoop in last fall when the district acknowledged a whopping 480 incidents of alleged sexual harassment and abuse in its schools. Where was the public outrage over the mistreatment of special needs students? Where was the public outrage over 480 incidents of sexual harassment in their schools? That is a horrific statistic, yet no one seems unduly alarmed by it.
As for the media’s portrayal of horrendous gun violence in the United States, the actual facts are that according to the National Crime Victimization Survey, violent crime has been declining steadily since the early 1990’s. The 2011 homicide rate was almost half that of the 1991 rate and most violent crime is now related to gang activity.
According to Pew Research, almost two-thirds of our annual gun deaths are suicides, not homicides, and the removal of guns from private ownership would in most likelihood only drive many of those bent on suicide to find other means.
There are more guns in rural areas than in urban areas, yet gun deaths are considerably higher in urban areas, concentrated in largely black and Latino neighborhoods where gang activity and drug violence is prevalent.
Switzerland and Israel have much higher gun ownership rates than the United States but experience far fewer homicides and have much lower violent crime rates than many European nations with much lower gun ownership. Vermont, which has more than one gun for every inhabitant and extremely lax gun laws, had only seven gun homicides in 2016.
The FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for 2016 shows more than four times as many people were stabbed to death by knives than killed by rifles of any kind. In 2016 in West Virginia alone, there were 998 overdose deaths. Where were the walkouts and nationwide protests over knife attacks and drug overdoses? Where are the calls to ban knives from every home?
In 2009, the CDC reported that 3,000 teens ages 15 to 19 were killed in automobile accidents and 350,000 were treated in emergency rooms because of car accidents. While young people ages 15 to 24 comprise 14 percent of the population, they account for 30 percent of car accidents. Where are the bills in Congress to raise the age of issuing a driver’s license
Of “Deaths and Injuries in the Community,” the National Security Council says, “the five leading fatal causes are falls, drowning, water, air and railroad transportation.” Guns are far down on the list. And Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck has regularly proven that guns actually save about 2.5 million lives a year, an example in point being the NRA member who ran out barefoot to wound and eventually stop the man who shot up the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
It seems illogical that in the immediate aftermath of a shooting by a troubled teen with a history of violence and mental issues, the public should blame the inanimate tool of his killings. . . the gun. As the NRA says so truthfully, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Nikolas Cruz chose to use a rifle for his butchery because the procedures which should have prevented him from obtaining a gun failed, again and again. But had he not been charged with assault and locked up after the many times he had attacked family members or fellow students, and had a gun not have been available to him, he would no doubt have used a machete, a knife, a baseball bat, or more likely, given his internet browsing history, a bomb. It was not the rifle that killed 17 in Parkland, Florida, but a tormented and unstable young man, who should have long since been dealt with by authorities. Place the blame where the blame belongs.