Americans must be empowered ‘to rebel’ against gun violence

Another mass shooting. Another call for thoughts and prayers. Another demand for more gun control laws.

People dancing and celebrating the Lunar New Year in Monterey Park, workers in Half Moon Bay, Michigan State University students shot dead.

You probably can’t remember the details of those shootings and others that occurred just days ago, or any of the more than 70 mass shootings that have occurred since the beginning of this year.

Are we really expected to just put up with this insanity? Are we to believe that more laws will prevent the carnage? Are we so stupid as to accept the notion that arming more “good people” to combat the crazy “bad people” will make us safer?

Those who oppose gun control laws contend there are enough laws. Stop proposing more. Maybe they have a point. What good are existing laws when too many gun-lobby-beholden politicians refused to enforce them?

It’s too easy for us to forget about these senseless killings — unless, of course, if we or our loved ones are victims.

We are more likely to remember the television ads bemoaning the heartbreak of Peyronie’s disease than the 20,000 people who were shot dead last year in the U.S. That number does not include suicides.

For the carnage to stop, people must not forget. They must be told that they can do something to stop the killing.

We must constantly remind people that innocent men, women and children are dying because bad people are picking up guns and spraying bullets aimlessly into the air.

Rather than passing new laws that are ignored, remind people that laws have been passed and it’s their job to help enforce them.

Decades ago, government agencies, businesses and the advertising industry joined forces to wage a years-long media campaign to convince Americans that smoking was not just bad, it was killing them.

It was a hard sell considering the political power of the tobacco industry and how smoking was embedded into Americans’ psyche and culture. Growing tobacco on American soil predated the nation’s founding. The Marlboro Man defined character. Cigarettes went to battle with our soldiers in two world wars. Smoking was a God-given — or really, an industry-manufactured — personal right.

It took time, but eventually Americans learned they had been duped. Tobacco companies had hidden evidence that smoking caused cancers and affected the health of downwind nonsmokers. Manufacturers were making increasingly addictive cigarettes and cleverly marketing them to children — our future generations.

Anti-smoking advertising campaigns were so effective and the resulting lawsuits so successful that smoking bans became commonplace. Marketing limits were established. Manufacturers were forced to pay penalties. Taxes on tobacco products escalated. And beholden politicians cowered in fear of a voter backlash if they were caught accepting the industry’s campaign money.

The same can happen if public outrage over gun violence is harnessed by effective advertising campaigns.

Already the Advertising Council has started airing commercials that hammer at the violence and demand enforcement of laws. The Advertising Council produces, distributes and promotes public service announcements on behalf of businesses, nonprofits organizations and government agencies. It works with advertising agencies that voluntarily create commercials to support campaigns.

Gun control organizations should unite with deep-pocketed businesses and individual donors to create a coordinated strategy and to fund a powerful, full-throated, in-your-face public service assault to remind Americans that guns are killing our present and our future. It’s up to Americans to stop it.

If you see a danger, report it. If you see dangerous people possessing guns, raise a red flag. If you see politicians unwilling to enforce gun control laws, don’t vote for them. Elect people who will enforce the laws.

For people to care about these mass shootings, they must feel empowered. They must be told that they can take steps to stop it.

Against what appeared to be all odds, the Advertising Council fueled a rebellion of Americans to curb the power of the tobacco industry. Although smoking continues today, it claims fewer lives.

The same “rebellion” can be turned against gun manufacturers, the NRA and their political lackeys.

Americans are not powerless to stop this carnage. They just need to know how.