The tragic events that tookplace in Tucsonare truly heart wrenching. As I listenedto President Obama deliver his remarks at the memorial service this pastWednesday, I was reminded that we are now a nation in mourning, trying to makesense of this incomprehensible act of violence on Congresswoman Gifford and theothers who have fallen. This moment onlyreminds me of tragedy that I have been far too familiar with in recent times.
As we mourn and reflect I canonly think about the conversations I had with victims of gun violence whileworking alongside community leaders in the streets of East and South Los Angeles. Far too often, the most dangerous of firearms are crippling families acrossAmerica. And as we just witnessed this reality isoccurring not simply in the inner city. These tragedies are however occurring far too often there. Recently, Bob Herbert of the New York Times,reflected upon the Arizonatragedy in his column. He thought abouta lunch he had with the President of the Children’s Defense Fund soon after the2007 shooting massacre at Virginia Tech. At the lunch, this President sadly reminded him that we have theequivalent of the number of casualties found from the Virginia shooting rampage in our streetsevery four days, referring to the crisis of gun violence in American cities.
Gun violence is also a realissue for us as it is for many people living in our cities.
While working on gang violenceissues in Los Angeles,I found out that we also have young people caught within the webs of streetviolence. For example, Vancouver has its very own South Asian gangviolence problem. Within the United States, we have gangs increasinglybecoming a part of civic life in neighborhoods in Northern California, NorthernNew Jersey, and New York City.
This has to stop. Yes, gun ownership is certainly a protectedright, however the spread of firearms and even some assault weapons are infringingupon everyone’s public safety. Now I know what you are thinking. I am going to discuss how this incidentelevates the need for gun control. Guncontrol advocates are going to be steadfast to push for more stringent gunslaws in the near future. They will pointto how the gunman, deeply disturbed, obtained his firearm legally and theensuing shooting rampage happened in a weak gun law state. Advocates will refer to the huge range of gunlaws on the books across the states and how some states would never haveallowed this man to even purchase this type of firearm and magazine in thefirst place. They will push for federalaction, to create more uniform gun safety measures. On the contrary, some mightsay that I will push for less gun control in the pursuit of public safety. After all, they will state, gun control infringesupon everyone’s right to protect themselves and that humans shoot guns and thatthe growth of any type of gun ownership cannot be correlated to gun violence. Moreover, people should have the right topurchase guns and defend themselves.
I don’t wish to rehash the guncontrol debate however at this moment. We may have a widespread gun culture andhave a wide range of states with weaker and strict gun laws. Yet we need to discussanother issue often left unnoticed-curbing the spread of firearms disseminatedillegally. We can all agree to betterenforce federal and state guns laws we already have on the books – particularlybecause the proliferation of illegal guns are climbing everyday into our citiesand causing visible harm. We can enforcelaws that monitor guns registries, ensuring that we know how guns are legallydisseminated and are getting into the right hands in our communities.
After this recent tragedy it nowseems common knowledge that the United States is the largest consumer and manufacturerof firearms in the world. Yet moreimportantly, the growth in manufacturing of these guns are not simply beingbought and sold legally but many continue to be distributed illegally and onthe black market- destroying mostly low-income neighborhoods in American citiesand in parts of Mexico. Whether we are living in denselypopulated cities or rural communities, we are all waking to errant gunshotsfrom many unauthorized guns piercing through the fabric in which we each sharea common thread.
Across the states there has beeninconsistent enforcement, legislative footing, and awareness about state,local, and federal gun laws and the maintenance of gun registries. Take mystate. California is strict when it comes to lawfulgun ownership. The Legal Community Against Violence has ranked California as havingamongst the strongest gun laws in the country. And our background checks arefierce and can lead one to understand why we trail most states in gun exports. However guns are proliferating into our citiesat a rampant pace from nearby states that have weaker gun laws. In 2008 California witnessedclose to 1,500 murders due to guns. Someattribute this to a lack of awareness and law enforcement capacity to policethe spread of illegal firearms across the states.
Many leaders have discussed thepresence of illegal firearms in our streets of late. Over the last few years, acoalition of over 500 mayors have advocated feverishly for further federalaction. They have found that guns fromstates with weaker laws and a lack of enforcement are spreading everywhereincluding abroad, fueling violence south of the border. The coalition recommends a few key provisionsfor the federal government to address. These include improving backgroundchecks to obtain a gun, better policing at gun shows, more effective interstatetracing of firearms, and stricter gun safety requirements.
Nationwide 12,000 murders areattributed to guns a year. This is anunseemly figure. Our lawmakers shouldcontinue to see the severity of this problem as it is one that undercuts manyof the principles that unite us.
The coalition’s recommendationsare consistent with federal law and do not come close to infringing upon theindividual rights of gun owners. We must act, despite the shortcomings of ourdemocracy and the role of special interests. The gun lobby cannot stand between us and ourpublic safety, particularly considering that we aim to enhance ongoing federallaws already established and only find ways to better track all legal firearms.
This unfortunate incident in Tucson brings attention tosome alarming concerns regarding gun culture, access to dangerous firearms, andthe state of our political discourse that invokes violence amongst groups. However it also brings into focus thedissemination of unauthorized guns and how gun violence is a problem we all aredealing with across communities. As weall continue to reflect and mourn upon the events that took place last weekend,we must not forget about the dreadful consequences of gun violence. This horrible event only reinforces that thereis work to be done and we could start by addressing some of the concernsbrought up by the coalition I mentioned. We must not let down anyone who continues tosuffer from the impacts of gun violence.
Vijay Das, Advocate and Public AffairsCommentator
