Spectator/Stephen Tuttle

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I grew up thinking our government had our backs. I now realize Congress only has the backs of those with deep pockets and of those who can get them elected. I would love to feel the pride I once had of being an American, but as long as we are a country that is incapable of preventing the slaughter of our children, I don’t think I ever will.

Debbie Harris | Traverse City Jim Hutchison | Suttons Bay

No-Mow May

Not So Funny

MORE IMPORTANT THAN LIFE

spectator

By Stephen Tuttle

Another day, another massacre of children, another night of parents lying sleepless, eyes wide open, minds racing, hearts irreparably broken. When not slaughtering children in their classrooms, we slaughter shoppers in a grocery store; or worshipers in a church or mosque or synagogue; or revelers in a nightclub or at a neighborhood party or at a concert. We are equal-opportunity slaughterers undeterred by location, age, race, or religion. We’re willing to kill most anybody. We do it mostly with guns. Data from 2020 compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and analyzed by Pew Research paints an ugly picture. Guns killed slightly more than 45,000 Americans in 2020, about 45 percent of which—or just more than 19,300—were murders. (Suicide continues to be the leading cause of gun deaths.) That’s the most gun deaths ever in this country and a 14 percent increase in just a year, a 25 percent increase since 2015, and a stunning 45 percent increase since 2010. (Our gun deaths per 100,000 people is still lower than our peak in 1974.) Now, after the most recent massacre, we’re hearing from politicians who so fear their progun base that they hide their spinal column somewhere it might never be found again. They say the killer in Uvalde, Texas, could have used a knife or a bat or a bomb. But guns are readily available and easy to use. Semiautomatic versions can kill quickly, effectively, and impersonally. They are the perfect mass killing weapon of choice. In fact, 79 percent of all murders in the U.S. are the result of gunfire, not knives or anything else. According to the CDC, the most gun deaths per capita occurred in Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Alabama in 2020. Those states have among the most liberal gun laws. The lowest gun death rates happened in Hawai’i, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and New York. Those states have among the most restrictive gun laws. There would seem to be dots to connect, but the data has been interpreted in different ways by opposing advocacy groups. What is undeniable is we are a nation in love with guns. According to the Small Arms Survey, a Swiss-based research organization, we are the only country in the world with more guns in private hands than we have people, approximately 120 guns for every 100 people. No other country is even close, with the Falkland Islands and Yemen coming in a

distant second and third. That’s more than 390 million guns in private hands. The inevitable result is more people here are shot and more people are killed by guns than anywhere else. George Carlin—the late, great comedian —created widely loved fictitious Other countries seem to have solved the gun violence issue. conversations that comically exposed the absurdities of American life. Now, I find the current absurdities of American life can generate only horror and outrage. “Come in, son. We’ve got just the thing that a sportsman like you needs. Here’s a The European Union (EU) consists of 27 countries with a total population of nearly 448 million. Combined, they average about 6,700 gun deaths annually. All of the EU countries have some form of gun control or restrictions. model you’ll like. It’s advertised on the web. You’ll take two? That’s great! Now you’ll want a bunch of rounds; most folks get five or six hundred. Just a sec, I gotta do an internet check. Hey, you’re good to go. You can take these home today, and in just a week you’ll be using these bad boys like a video game hero. But hey, let me warn Australia and New Zealand are both countries with a long private gun ownership tradition. Yet both enacted stringent gun regulations outlawing semi-automatic weapons with a buy-back program after massacres in which military-style, semi-automatic long guns were used. Despite predictions to the contrary, you, don’t try to celebrate your newfound manhood by taking a drink of liquor. “Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is Everyone knows that a brain like yours is too immature to understand how harmful alcohol is to a kid’s growing body. I’ve heard not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and you don’t even know how to drive. Bye now. I’ll look for your name in the newspaper.” for whatever purpose.” -Justice Antonin Scalia

Are you prepared for your child or grandchild to be the blood sacrifice consecrated by those who bow down to the gun god and the sacred script of the Second Amendment? How would you live with the crime—especially violent crime—actually decreased. In 2019, there were 229 gun deaths in Australia and 105 in New Zealand. pain of this madness for the rest of your life? When a person dies in the course of military service, the customs and rituals of our society provide solace: “It was for a noble cause.” Where’s the “noble cause” in this madness? DO SOMETHING! Here’s an idea. Every day for the next 30 days, ask someone this question: How would you live with the pain of this madness for the rest of your life? Maybe Those countries’ organizing documents, be they a constitution or something else, do not make private gun ownership inviolate. Most have no gun ownership tradition, nor did they have a frontier they believe was at least partially conquered by guns. And they have nothing like our Supreme Court’s Heller v. District of Columbia decision in 2008 that established Second Amendment protection for private handgun ownership in the home. Now we’ll have another gun debate with much noise and almost no action. It will be the same debate we have after every mass shooting, especially if it involves a school. One side will claim this is finally the moment something will happen or some law will be passed. The other side will resist anything that even hints at restricting the availability of their beloved weapons. Maybe a state legislature or two will take a baby step, perhaps restricting so-called assault weapons even though the FBI says only three percent of gun deaths involve long guns. There is much we could do given some political courage, because the Heller decision offered plenty of room for both restrictions and reform. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said, “Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” We’ve ignored Scalia’s open door to reform for 14 years and counting. Too many of us continue to believe guns are more important than lives—even the lives of children.

you’ll see a path of action to take a nibble out of these absurdities of our culture. I was pleased to see Cathye Williams’ column in your paper (“Hope Springs,” May 14) mention the benefits of “No-Mow May.” As your readers may already know, this is a now national movement that encourages people to stop mowing their lawns in the month of May to support bees and other pollinators. Since moving here from a large city three years ago, my husband and I have had many adventures—and misadventures—in lawn care and gardening. An ambitious crop of tomato plants, for instance, yielded exactly three edible specimens, none of which, alas, will give Lakeview Hill Farm a run for their money. But with no “No-Mow May,” we’ve finally found something we can do well in this department. Which is to say, nothing. All month, we’ve watched as our grass has grown long and shaggy and the dandelions have madly sprouted up everywhere. The bees have come. So, for the first time, have several bunnies, looking remarkably well-fed and lazing about as if they are in a meadow. Which they are, in a way. A very small meadow. All of this has brought us pleasure. And a measure of optimism. Bees are struggling. There are a variety of reasons why, some better understood than others. But climate change is one of them. When it comes to bee populations, climate change is responsible for habitat loss, higher temperatures, and an increase in parasitic infections. This couldn’t hit closer to home for all of us. It’s been estimated that one out of every three bites of food we eat depends on bees and other pollinators. There are lots of things we can do to address climate change. And when it comes to falling bee populations, there’s one thing we don’t have to do every year in May: Mow the lawn! Mary McNear | Traverse City C Supported by the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, administered by Eastern Upper Peninsula Planning Commission. michigan.gov/arts /soofilmfestival GREAT LAKES, GREAT MOVIES September 14-18, 2022 Downtown Sault Ste. Marie, MI Info and tickets at soofilmfestival.org