Second Thoughts of the Second Amendment
- Himani Harrell
- Oct 25, 2024
- 4 min read
“Sometimes, it's just the guns."
This quote by Tim Walz is arguably the most memorable part of the 2024 Vice Presidential debate. It perfectly encapsulates the single most harmful issue that plagues the nation today. The incidence of gun violence in the United States is not a result of the also, very saddening, mental health crisis, but rather a product of the penetrating accessibility to guns that has become far too normalized in our society.
Growing up, I distinctly remember the fear that seeped into my mind and tensed my body during elementary school. The periodic school shooting drills felt surreal and terrifying. We were instructed to lock our doors, switch off the lights, and be silent. I remember the hushed whispers between classmates, wide eyes filled with fear and confusion. It was a chilling experience for any child to go through. Yet, with years passing and the perpetuation of those drills, we all became so detached from the gravity of gun violence. The sound of the alarm prompts us to habitually lock the door and connect it to the wall strap; something that everyone at my school was taught to do. What once was a haunting fear turned into disheartening normality, further fueling a question in my mind as to how a society could accept such a grim reality as part of everyday life.
This normalization of fear points to a fundamental problem the Second Amendment, a document drafted over two hundred years ago, that can no longer speak for us on present realities. The Founding Fathers could not have envisioned the advanced kind of weaponry nor the scale of violence we experience today. The amendment was written at a time when firearms were rudimentary, and the concept of a "well-regulated militia" hardly resembled the one we now live in, with mass shootings and gun violence an all-too-tragic commonplace. The founders wanted to make sure that people could defend themselves, but today we sit in a society where mass shootings and everyday gun violence fill our headlines.
This makes the argument that we should be focusing on mental health instead of gun control a dangerous distraction. As important as mental health is and as much as it deserves our attention, one has to point out that a person with purely mental illness causes no gun violence. The great majority of people with mental health problems are non-violent; it is the access to a weapon that turns a moment of crisis into a tragedy. Research confirms, time and time again, that where there are more guns, there is more violence. Individuals with access to firearms are 22 times more likely than people without access to firearms to commit suicide.
Moreover, countries that have the most stringent laws on gun control are also far from experiencing such a high rate of gun violence. For example, in Japan, which is one of the nations with the toughest gun laws in the world, there were only six deaths pertaining to guns in 2014 as opposed to thousands every year in the United States. This problem lies purely within the guns themselves and not with the mental health issues of individuals misusing those guns.
The numbers are astounding: more than 19,000 people were killed by firearms in the United States just last year, and mass shootings have become almost commonplace, happening every week or so and even, sometimes, several times a week. After every shooting, we hear lots of thoughts and prayers, but too little action. The Gun Violence Archive estimated that there were over 600 mass shootings in 2020. Meanwhile, children have to practice drills on how to survive something that they should not even have to think about. Such is the irony: the preparations of how to survive a threat that should not be there in the first place, and our leaders not taking significant steps towards preventing these atrocities.
The cultural acceptance of guns for protection often overshadows the conversations that should be had about the implications of such beliefs. The notion that more guns equals more safety is fundamentally flawed. A study from the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with higher levels of gun ownership have higher rates of firearm homicides. Countries that have strict policies on gun control have been able to demonstrate that a reduction in access to weapons results in safer communities. We need to take a closer look at reality and accept that the Second Amendment needs to be reworked and reworded to meet the demands of reducing gun violence.
We must advocate for reasonable regulations that should universally include background checks, restriction of high-capacity magazines, and an outright ban on assault weapons. None of those measures violated the rights of responsible gun owners but provided a right for all citizens to live in a country without constant fear of shooting in various locations. The 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School restarted conversations about gun control, launching a national movement for more regulation. And yet, even as the vast majority of Americans, estimated at over 90%, support such policies as universal background checks, political inertia has stood in the way.
We owe ourselves the obligation to future generations to make the world a safer place. We cannot allow the normalization of fear in our schools and communities to be our legacy. The safety of our neighbors and children needs to be prioritized over an extremely outdated amendment. We have in our grasp, the power to reshape our narrative and, in doing so, cultivate a society that values life and security above everything else. In this future that we will create together, our children will be granted a right to go to school unafraid and the value of human life will be upheld.
The time for change is now, and that begins when we acknowledge that sometimes,
it really is just the guns.
Photo Credit: Bob Strong | Reuters
Sources:
[1] Gun Violence Archive
[2]Pew Research Gun Policy
[3]The relationship between firearms and suicide in the United States https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23975641/
[4] The Relationship Between Gun Ownership and Firearm Homicide Rates in the United States.
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