Thoughts on gun control

After the Orlando nightclub shooting on June 12th, I got into quite a few Facebook discussions about guns and gun control. I learned a lot and I'm very thankful for friends who can engage in (mostly) civil discussions about these issues. I told a few of them that I was going to write a blog post about my thoughts. In reading articles and doing research, I've come up with more questions than answers. This post will just be a few snippets of things I've done a little research on so far.

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One friend suggested that I research the Second Amendment. I'm well aware of the text, words ingrained from way back when in middle school, I think:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

But, how is it interpreted? Apparently, there are two common ways of interpreting the Second Amendment: the individual right theory and the collective rights theory. I lean towards the collective rights theory meaning I take the subject of the Second Amendment to be the well regulated militia, not the individual people.

I think this is where the fundamental difference between people's views lies too. Maybe it's because I'm a nurse, but I'm all for the common good (or maybe that thinking is what led me to becoming a nurse).

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Gun violence in Chicago is something that almost always comes up in these types of discussions. The idea being that Chicago has strict gun laws but plenty of gun violence so gun laws don't work. According to the NRA-ILA, in Illinois you must have a FOID (Firearm Owners Identification) to purchase or own rifles, shotguns and handguns, and to carry handguns. However, in both Indiana and Wisconsin, the only permit required is to carry handguns.

Therefore, it would seem that a Chicago resident could travel to either Indiana or Wisconsin to legally purchase a handgun whether or not that Chicago resident had a valid FOID card. Then, that Chicago resident could bring the gun back to Chicago. None of the states listed above require registration of firearms so that particular gun could fly under the radar for quite some time.

So far this year, there have been 2319 shooting victims in Chicago. There are many reasons for this. This article does a really good job at looking at a few of them. One of the most vexing things for me is that very often, there are no suspects. This is ridiculous.

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Another friend told me to check out the Pink Pistols, an LGBT shooting group. I hadn't heard of the group before. Their premise:

We teach queers to shoot. Then we teach others that we have done so.

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Ideally, what would I like to see? A few things:

• Licenses to purchase or carry firearms or ammunition
• Mandatory firearm education to obtain licenses
• Registration of all firearms
• Research funding for intentional and unintentional firearm injuries as well as firearm safety

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A few more articles I found interesting in my search:

• Guns. It always comes back to the guns. commentary by Rex Huppke of the Chicago Tribune 
• Shootings dropped in Germany after gun control laws tightened also from the Chicago Tribune. A completely different country, a completely different mindset, but interesting nonetheless.
• 2016 Gun Violence Resolution from the Society for Public Health Education

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I'll end this by saying that I have shot guns. I grew up with parents who hunted. I never saw a problem with that and I still don't. I refused to take hunter safety as a kid but would go along hunting without carrying a gun. A few years ago, while visiting John's uncle in Idaho, we went to a shooting range and shot a variety of guns owned by John's uncle's friend. What impressed me the most about this experience was that the gun owner fully respected the guns and made sure we all did too. Safety was his #1 concern. It was a great outing.

 

That being said, I can't imagine shooting another person. Shooting animals for food or shooting at targets? Sure. Shooting another person? No. And maybe this is where the true root of the problem lies. In society as a whole, maybe we don't value others' lives as much as we should. Which brings to mind another quote from this country's history:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.