AUTHOR'S 1994 PREDICTION ABOUT GUNS HAS COME TRUE

Lax U.S. firearms regulations have resulted in horrific carnage, Jonathan Rossall writes.

I finished reading Erik Larson's excellent book Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun approximately seven days before an 18-year-old boy entered a classroom at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and murdered 19 grade four students and two teachers before being shot and killed by a Border Patrol officer.

In his book, Larson traces the history of a Cobray M-11/9 semi-automatic gun (“the gun that made the '80s roar!”) until it got into the hands of an 16-yearold boy who used it to shoot several teachers and students, killing one, on Dec. 16, 1988, in Virginia Beach.

In the absence of having read this book I might have been outraged and disgusted by the Uvalde killings for a few days and then written this off as another instance of American gun culture.

But the history recited and arguments made in Larson's book struck a chord and compelled me to dig deeper.

Now, before I go further, in the interests of full disclosure I confess I am a Canadian citizen and I own a gun.

When I was a boy scout in the 1960s, my mom and dad bought me a .22 rifle for target practice as a reward for earning a merit badge for gun safety and marksmanship and I have it to this day.

For a period of time, I enjoyed target shooting with family and friends, and I confess I did take down a few gophers and squirrels. It is now stored carefully in my home, separated from its bolt action and ammunition, which are locked away in a safe. It has not been fired in perhaps 30 years. I have a licence and a permit.

So I am not against guns, per se. But I am, and always have been, against the madness of gun proliferation in the U.S. which (regardless of what certain Republican senators may say) is unequivocally and directly linked to the ease with which individuals can obtain handguns, rifles and yes, semi-automatic and automatic machine guns without registration, background checks or qualification.

The young man in Uvalde purchased two AK-47 semi-automatic rifles and more than 350 rounds of ammunition two days after his 18th birthday.

By all reports, he did not have to apply for a licence; did not have to submit to criminal record checks; did not even have to answer a simple question such as “Why do you need two AK-47 semi-automatic rifles?” I don't believe there was even a waiting period.

He also had a handgun of indeterminate origin.

Larson writes that in the past two years, firearms have killed 60,000 Americans, more than the number of U.S. soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.

Handguns account for 22,000 deaths a year.

Many of these casualties were not victims of unbalanced youths who have easy access to firearms.

They are in part, victims of accidents in their homes because of improperly stored handguns, or the casual side-effects of drive-by shootings. Or they are suicide victims who found it far, far too easy to end their lives because of easy access to a weapon. Or they are criminal acts gone bad, or perhaps with intended results.

And recognize, before downplaying these statistics, that Larson's book was published in 1994. Things are much worse now and getting worse every day.

So, as an ignorant Canadian living in a society where owning a handgun or assault rifle is not a “constitutionally protected right” (and I say this with tongue in cheek, because I do not buy the supposed 2nd Amendment right to bear arms as I do not believe any of these killers are members of any “armed militia” and as far as I am aware, there is no government oppression justifying an armed uprising), why is it so necessary for Americans to own a firearm or, worse yet, carry it in public?

A small arms survey carried out in 2018 in the U.S. showed that of the top 10 civilian gun-owning countries (including Serbia, Montenegro, Uruguay, Canada, Cyprus, Finland and others) gun ownership showed roughly 32 to 39 firearms per 100 residents.

Yemen, which likely would be accepted as a country filled with some degree of strife requiring arms, came in at a shocking 52.8 firearms per 100 (so roughly every second citizen had a firearm or at least had access to a firearm).

The U.S., however, topped the charts at an outrageous 120.5 firearms per 100 residents.

I hear the argument that Americans need guns to defend themselves (even if they are not “militia”), but that does not really help to explain why some Americans need guns to kill kids in schools.

Just starting in 2012 (over the last decade) we have seen: Sandy Hook, Connecticut — 27 killed; 2013, Santa Monica, California — six killed; 2014, Marysville, Washington — five killed; 2015, Roseburg, Oregon — 10 killed; 2014, Rancho Tehama Reserve, California — six killed; 2018, Parkland, Florida — 17 killed; 2018,

Why is it so necessary for Americans to own a firearm, or worse yet, carry it in public?

Santa Fe, Texas) — 10 killed; and now, Ulvalde, Texas.

No one is going to be able to convince me that, in the words of Marjorie Taylor- Greene, Republican senator for Georgia, these are just the actions of “deranged individuals” and have nothing to do with access to guns.

These individuals had ready access to automatic or semi-automatic weapons, with the capability of modification (thanks to ready access to manuals, instruction guides and necessary parts).

Erik Larson's prophecy in his book that if stronger legislation and regulations were not passed, and if manufacturers were not restricted in distributing military grade firearms to civilians, things were going to get worse, has come true.

God save America's schoolchildren.