Fear and Rights: a Lethal Mix

FEAR and insistence upon the freedom to exercise one's perceived RIGHTS are the lethal mix that prevent significant action in gun violence prevention. 

It matters little that a gun in the home increases the chance of being killed by 72%, is responsible for the vast majority of children being killed by guns, is 22 times more likely to be used in a suicide or homicide or accident than to be used in self defense, triples the risk of homicide, increases likelihood of suicide by five times, means an abused woman is six times more likely to be murdered.

It matters little that more guns equals more unnatural deaths (CBS News), that more guns in homes increases the chance of homicide by two times and suicide by three times according to the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY.

It matters little that victims of property crimes use guns in self defense 1/10 of 1% of the time according to the Violence Policy Center.

It matters little that in 2013 there were 33,636 people who died from gun violence, that states with higher rates of gun ownership have greater rates of gun suicide, that a gun buy-back program in Australia took 1/5 of the guns off the streets and wound up reducing firearm suicide by 74%, that when Israeli Defense Forces stopped letting soldiers bring their guns home over the weekend, suicides declined 40%, that 90% of people who have survived suicide do not end up dying by suicide, that the Center for Disease Control says that 85% of suicide attempts by gun resulted in death, compared to 6.7% via cutting and 6.5% by poisoning. The above from VOX and the article "America's Biggest Gun Problem is the One We Never Talk About" by Dylan Matthews and Estelle Caswell.

It matters little that the Public Policy Polling survey between June 19-20, 2015, reported that 82% of Americans support preventing domestic abusers from buying guns, that 80% of gun owners think this is a good idea, that 87% of women support the idea, as well as 92% of Hispanics and 89% of African Americans. This poll is used to support the Dingell-Dold Bill (HR-3130 and S-1520). Debbie Dingel is a Democrat from Michigan and Bob Dold a Republican from Illinois.

What does matter is that I have the right to protect myself from threat, the right to be shielded by a narrow reading of the Second Amendment, the right to allow fear to trigger violent-deadly response against anyone or anything that threatens the well-being of me or my family or my team or my group or my gang or whatever I value with few if any restraints. 

FEAR and RIGHTS trample on any notion of gun violence prevention such as universal background checks, safe storage, denial of right to purchase if family or police deem a person at risk for committing violence, requiring trigger locks on all guns, requiring a gun safety course for all gun purchasers, registration of all guns (we register automobiles which kill 40,000 a year), requiring permits for conceal and carry, banning sale of assault weapons and large ammunition magazines.

Trumpeting FEAR and RIGHTS have trumped LOVE. Fear and rights have turned us into ourselves and voided love for the other.  Fear and rights focus our being on ME.  We choose to cocoon ourselves behind a wall of weapons which isolate and insulate us from connection. The tragic outcome is more violence, more death, more grief. Battlefields are littered with the the millions of dead who marched to the drums and bugles of FEAR and RIGHTS. Streets, homes, schools, public squares, worship centers and places of business are the new battlefields.

I am moved by the words within the Declaration of Independence which state we are all entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."  I am moved by the words in the Preamble of our Constitution that the words contained exist for the purpose of insuring "domestic tranquility." 

I have learned from Jesus that perfect love casts out fear. That it is time to say "Enough!" and "No more of this!" That God's response to Cain's question after he killed his brother, Abel, "Am I my brother's keeper?" is an unqualified "Yes you are!"

Peace!