POINTSOFVIEW | EDITORIAL
By Christopher Heffron
The Year of Living Dangerously
H
oward Unruh woke up on the morning of September 6, 1949, with a plan. After breakfast, the 28-year-old went for a walk in his Camden, New Jersey, neighborhood with a Lugar and an eight-round magazine. In less than 15 minutes, he shot 16 people indiscriminately; 13 would die from their injuries. Mass shootings predate this rampage, but none were as deadly. Unruh, it seems, started a trend. As this is being written, on the 179th day of the year, there have been 310 mass shootings in this country. Let that sink in: Gun violence is outpacing the days of the year. Even COVID-19’s restrictions couldn’t slow the rise in gun sales or gun violence—and this year is trending worse. Experts predict 2021 will be the deadliest on record. FedEx buildings, retail chains, restaurants, even wakes have become killing fields. “America the beautiful” has developed an ugly problem.
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HARD TRUTHS
written long before assault weapons and bump stocks, nor does it advise Americans on gun trafficking, background checks, or legislation. Last June, in fact, the state of Texas allowed for handgun ownership without a license, despite the objections of law enforcement organizations and gun control advocates. Iowa, Montana, and Tennessee have passed similar gun laws. And for what? Firearms, statistically, do not make us safer. According to a review in the Annals of Internal Medicine, even a properly stored firearm in the home doubles the risk of homicide and triples the risk of suicide. While gun rights should be protected for responsible owners (the vast majority of whom will never commit acts of mass violence), the right to stay alive is a higher priority. Put simply: Your right to carry a gun does not outweigh my right to not be killed by one. LOVE HELD BACK
When COVID-19 vaccines rolled out The Church is clear on this issue. ahead of schedule, Americans should have In their 2020 document, “A Mercy celebrated. Instead, we got aggressive. and Peacebuilding Approach to Gun Reports show that gun violence spiked in Violence,” the US bishops said that the the spring and has been rising ever since. Church “recognizes that recourse to selfIn the first five months of the year, in fact, defense is legitimate for one’s own safety. over 8,000 people died from gun violence. In today’s world, however, weapons that Given how these attacks always peak in are increasingly capable of inflicting great the summertime, firing weapons might suffering in a short period of time are replace baseball as our national pastime. simply too accessible.” With gun violence But how do we define the problem? Accessibility is only one aspect of the on the rise, we as a The Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan crisis. There are others, including poverty, nation find ourselves think tank in Washington, DC, says that racial inequities, drugs, the mass media— at a crossroads. mass shootings are an American phenomthe list is long. But ambivalence to human enon and defines it as a gun-related incilife should be included. dent where there are “four victims shot, Indifference eats away at our culture, either injured or killed, not including any shooter.” Other but it’s hardly a 21st-century invention. Unruh, the New forms of gun violence, such as suicide, person-to-person, or Jersey shooter, was analyzed by doctors who looked for a domestic violence are categorized differently. motive and a measure of humanity. They would find neither. In the wake of these tragedies, voices always rise to a In one session, Unruh told a psychologist his only regret was howl. Second Amendment apologists blame mental illness a lack of ammunition. He is reported to have looked at his for the epidemic, but according to the National Alliance on doctor vacantly and said, “I’d have killed a thousand.” Mental Health (NAMI), it’s a weak argument. “Most people Apathy is alive and well in this century—and it’s armed. with mental health conditions will never become violent, But love is stronger, even when it’s neglected. and mental illness does not cause most gun violence,” NAMI Poet and historian Aberjhani wrote that the “world’s reports. “Mental illness contributes to only about 4 peranguish is no different from the love we insist on holding cent of all violence, and the contribution to gun violence back.” These words ring true: When one person decides to is even lower.” end the lives of others, love is held back. When the body While the Constitution is clear that “the right of the of Christ is shot, it’s a shared wound. We all feel it. And the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” it was bleeding needs to stop. StAnthonyMessenger.org | August 2021 • 15
