The deplorable proliferation of firearms in this country is beyond resolution. The cat is out of the bag, Pandora’s box has been opened, and the fat lady has sung. For years now we have witnessed mass killings, and after each event, the powers that be vow to tighten restrictions on the more than 300 million guns in the country, but it’s too late for background checks, red flag laws and the like to have a significant impact.
There are just too many guns and anyone who wants one can get one, if not legally then illegally. The problem is just too immense to expect that half-way measures will have any appreciable effect. If you can’t buy or steal a gun, you can make one. The myth that guns make us safer is nonsense. Look at the statistics of mass shootings here compared to other countries. How we must look to the rest of the world; a “shining city on a hill” set against a background of murder and mayhem.
The “founding fathers” could never have anticipated the Second Amendment, as absurdly interpreted, would become the linchpin in the destruction of a nation founded on “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Had they known how destructive we would become, they would have added the word “grief.” How violent a society we are. We consume it on television and the movies. Despite our contrived efforts to condemn and control it, we pause, shake our heads, and move on until the next time.
Guns are instruments of death and power. Larger weapons represent more power and more deaths. Nations deplore war but rivals threaten each other with better and more lethal weapons. War is mass murder. Young people, many of whom don’t understand why, kill each other on a massive scale. Innocent civilians are murdered by the thousands in bombing raids. For what? Nations resort to violence in defense of some real or imagined vital interest. Is it any wonder that armed individuals will do the same when reacting to some real or imagined provocation?
Sure, mental health issues, anger, and revenge all contribute to abusive behavior and we should strengthen efforts to address such problems before they turn violent. However, we cannot overlook guns, the most effective (and now readily available) instrument of death. How do we as a nation reverse course and severely restrict the possession of firearms? Given our history, are we so obsessed with a right to bear arms that we cannot change? Is it a sensible balancing of interests to tolerate mass mayhem so long as we, too, can be armed?
Some argue that sick or misguided people, not guns, are the problem. I disagree; as flawed human beings, we will always have the sick, misguided, and angry among us. The problem of gun violence cannot be alleviated by monitoring those with health or anger management issues. With guns so plentiful, they will always find a way to get one unless we do away with the Second Amendment as now interpreted. I doubt that will happen, and as a result, we are likely to go on lamenting the deaths of innocents.
How sad! We should be better than this.
James W. Dolan is a retired Dorchester District Court judge who now practices law.
