After Florida shooting, solving gun violence in US still no easy fix

Faced with yet another tragic mass shooting, Americans are dragged back into in a polarizing debate about gun violence in our country, along with calls for action.

The horrific incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that left at least 17 students and teachers dead has many Americans frustrated that these tragedies continue to occur and that viable solutions remain elusive.

Instead of reasoned dialogue and debate on actual proposals, the public discourse has quickly devolved into a shouting match over gun control, where foes sling slogans and cliches at each other rather than engaging in meaningful discussion.

Reasonable Americans, regardless of their political ideology, should be open to discussing solutions that are practical and actually get to the heart of the problems at hand.

Any practical approach must acknowledge the Second Amendment rights of lawabiding Americans to own firearms. The Second Amendment was enshrined in the Bill of Rights more than 200 years ago, and the AR-15, specifically, has been on the civilian market since 1963. Mass shootings, on the other hand, are a phenomenon primarily of the last two decades.

Perhaps it has less to do with the availability of firearms than it does with the increasingly angry strains of public discourse, the expanding chasm between our polarized political parties, growing class stratification and the constant othering and alienating of minority groups.

Perhaps, as professor Jennifer Johnston at Western New Mexico University says, the intensive media coverage of mass shootings feeds into the rampant depression, social isolation and pathological narcissism that often drives many mass shooters to terrible acts of violence.

Whatever the case, we cannot and should not accept more of these incidents. Let’s set aside agendas and talk about actual solutions.

While calls to ban the AR15 and other “assault weapons” may seem appropriate, it likely won’t amount to much. The truth is that “assault weapons” are a vague concept that ultimately has more to do with how guns look than how they operate or what their inherent danger is. Discussing specific features, like bump stocks or high-capacity magazines, holds merit, but blanket proposals often ban one gun but leave another, functionally similar, gun on the shelf.

Furthermore, we already had a decade-long ban on such weapons beginning in 1994. An analysis on behalf of the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice conducted in 2004 noted that “should it be renewed, the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.”

Mass murders have proven they don’t need an assault weapon at all. Virginia Tech, the third deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, resulting in the deaths of 32 innocent people, involved two pistols. Nor would such bans have any impact on the overwhelming majority of shootings that occur every year. Rifles of any kind are involved in about 2 percent of homicides, according to the FBI.

What is certain is that ensuring existing gun laws are being fully enforced is the least we should expect, but that’s too often not what’s happening.

As we learned with the case of the Sutherland Springs shooter, the failure of the military to submit his criminal record to the FBI allowed him to purchase weapons when he shouldn’t have been able to do so. We also know that straw purchasers, those who buy weapons on behalf of people who can’t get them on their own, have rarely been prosecuted.

The right to bear arms means reasonable access to firearms, but it doesn’t mean that access comes without restrictions. Felons are barred from owning firearms, so are domestic abusers. Perhaps we should consider reasonable restrictions on other violent offenders, and the sort of mentally disturbed and often threatening individuals we’ve repeatedly seen involved in mass shootings.

But that being said, we must be careful not criminalize mental illness. After all, the lack of support for drug abuse or the mentally ill, visible in the homeless encampments in many of our cities, and in the “Rehab Riviera” stories that have been featured frequently in the pages of this newspaper in the past several months, is almost criminal itself.

Considering the numerous incidents that have occurred on school grounds, we also have to talk about school safety. The efficacy of and need for more violence prevention programs, school counselors and forms of campus security should be accessed and prioritized.

Fundamentally, reducing gun violence or at least the frequency of mass shootings will require a multifaceted approach that is sure to make people across the political spectrum uncomfortable, but we cannot continue to allow partisan talking points to prevent productive discussions from taking place. — Los Angeles Daily News,

Digital First Media