Journalism, democracy and guns
We need to wake up, debate, and place this issue at the center of our politics
I am afraid I don't think journalism has served American democracy much better than our politicians have in recent years.
We have stopped worrying much about research and depth.
And we stopped worrying much about detachment, fairness and balance.
In our anxiousness to survive we started giving folks what we thought they wanted, which, at this moment, seems to be more and more coverage of the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial – a petty meanness and narcissism fest signifying nothing.
But, I think journalism and journalists have a chance at redemption when it comes to the gun violence issue, and the tragedy and travesty in Uvalde, Texas that has brought that issue to the fore again.
This time, there has to be information, insight, and change.
American journalists have an opportunity to clarify and break down the gun reform options. What has worked and not worked in our states and cities? What has worked and not worked in other countries? What single reform, or two, could make an immediate impact?
A good example of what can be done is a Washington Post piece by Glenn Kessler that actually gathers data. ("What research shows on the effectiveness of gun control laws.") It does not pretend to be definitive or comprehensive, but it gives the reader and citizen actual information -- something to work with besides anger, frustration and bias.
The big take-away for me was that most gun control would have a slight effect on mass shootings but a significant effect on gun violence, generally.
And the two things that strike me as the most worth doing, and doing soon, are red flag laws (or gun violence restraining orders) and universal background checks.
Another fine piece is John Cassidy's in The New Yorker on what other countries -- Britain, Australia, and Israel -- have done. It's not easy to get any kind of gun in Israel, especially if you have or have had mental health issues. And you cannot legally obtain a weapon of war in Australia.
I have included the links here, along with links to two fine pieces by the journalist David French. One makes the case for red flag laws and in the other the author explains why he bought and learned how to use a gun.
For me, this moment is a moral test for our nation -- a test as profound as slavery was in the 19th century. Doing nothing after little children are slaughtered in their school indicts us, as a people and as a nation.
I know right-to-life advocates will say abortion is also a test comparable to slavery. But I just don't think that's true. To end a pregnancy in its early stages, a pregnancy that may be caused by rape or incest, is not the same as gunning down a fourth grader in his classroom. (Partial birth abortion I think is criminal and some form of manslaughter.) Abortion should be “legal safe and rare.” Mass shootings of children and their teachers should never happen; should never have happened; and surely, if we are to be a decent society, should never happen again.
After Sandy Hook I assumed, as did many others including Barack Obama, that our leaders would act. Now the slaughter has happened again -- 19 children; 21 human beings -- in Uvalde. And if we still do nothing, we are damned. We stand before the world as moral ciphers, cowards, and frauds. And the American ideal is gutted.
We are damned for our disregard of human life and because to do nothing in the face of such a brutal crime really says we have lost faith in our democratic processes and in collective action and reason.
Tackling gun violence is a crucial test for the country. One we must not fail.
I say this with the full knowledge and understanding that there is no “solution,” no comprehensive remedy. I am talking about our paralysis, our sense of helplessness, our numbness. This is what we must first overcome.
I can think of no major public problem in my lifetime, especially in the realm of public health and safety, about which we were similarly passive. Not child labor, unsafe food, unsafe cars, AIDS or polio.
There ARE things we can do -- background checks and gun violence restraining orders -- that will help. The mental health piece and adequate enforcement of current laws and systems are two things we can hone in on immediately, on the way to new legislation. Red flags can only work with good enforcement mechanisms.
But we have to face this as a nation. We have to talk about this. And we are holding elections right now, so it is the time to talk about it.
Gun violence is far more urgent than critical race theory. Let's talk about an issue as real as life and death for the most innocent of us all.
Let's debate gun reform options and priorities seriously and immediately. We are talking about our children -- little kids in school and teens on the streets of our cities. Enough. Let us, at long last, reason together, and act.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-to-prevent-gun-massacres-look-around-the-world?
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/gun-culture/554351/
I am so glad that Congressman Chris Jacobs from New York said he would support a ban on assault weapons following the shootings in the NY grocery store and in the Texas elementary school and he is a republican!!