Nearly 100 years ago, the manufacture, sale and availability of dangerous products motivated the population to eliminate access to them. Individuals, interest groups and religious organizations combined forces to pressure public officials to take action, and a constitutional amendment was passed to achieve the goal. The violence, abuse of women and destruction of life was sufficient to motivate Congress to pass enabling legislation to provide for implementation of the constitutional provision.
The product that prompted change was alcohol. Arguments persisted as to whether the actions were necessary or would abate the problem. Nevertheless, activism made a good faith attempt to do so. Now, a century later, activism has been incapable of pursuing similar results with guns.
Mass murders in schools are rampant. Each day we send our children to school in an atmosphere of Russian roulette, hoping they will return safely that evening. Malls, concerts and even churches are battlefields for the random killings. Our real weapons of mass destruction are now possessed by our population— not foreign governments — and they are accessible like candy at a convenience store.
The action taken during Prohibition reflects the care and concern that should be taken with respect to the proliferation of guns. The suggestion that the remedy is a list of individuals with “mental illness” to identify likely shooters would produce a futile stigmatization of the population. Such a remedy, when combined with the usual “thoughts and prayers” following each incident offers a Band-Aid to the victims and future victims of these murders. Typically, a week passes after each tragedy, the photos of the victims are removed, and the status quo returns, with gun sales available to the next shooter.
The argument persists that the right to bear arms, which the founders passed in 1789, enables us to own firearms 200 years later. We are no longer pursued by the British, nor endangered by their military. Undoubtedly, the Founding Fathers would be horrified to know that their enactment is relied upon to enable shooters to have guns to kill our school children today.
In the ’60s and ’70s, massive marches on Washington decried the oppression of African Americans, women and the futility of the never ending Vietnam war. ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, was formed to combat the ravaging problems of firearms in the country. Today, we are besieged by our own “weapons of mass destruction,” yet neither Congress nor activists have held a march on Washington to indict the system that is silent as our students are murdered every week.
In 1974, Bernie Taupin and Elton John, in one of their least known, but most compelling songs, produced “Ticking,” the true story of a mass murder of 14 patrons in a Queens, N.Y., restaurant. The circumstances surrounding that incident, 44 years ago, are eerily similar to those that now occur on almost a weekly basis. The song is worth listening to again.
In 1961, President Kennedy delivered an inspiring Inaugural address that ended with the following words:
“With a good conscience our only true reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking his blessing and his help, but knowing that here on Earth God’s work must truly be our own.”
Thoughts and prayers are no longer enough. Thoughts and actions have to proactively target the guns. If we could do it with alcohol, it’s time to do it with the guns.
Steve Kramer is a former Franklin County resident who now lives in Mashpee.