An Ocean of Blood…

An Ocean of Blood…

“It’s easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”

-       de Toqueville

“If you need proof that Congress is a hostage to the gun lobby, look no further than today’s vote.”

-       Senator Dianne Feinstein

By J.M. Hamilton (12-10-15)

Americans are swimming in an ocean of blood, and have become so numb to the number of mass shootings that they are literally treading blood w/out realizing it.  Per The Guardian, since the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newtown CT, and as of 12-3-2015, there has been 1,052 mass shooting in these United States.  And to hammer the point, in the majority of instances these attacks are domestic - home grown - terrorist events, carried out predominantly by white American males.  No other Western democracy suffers from this self-made pandemic, like the United States.  JMH writes “self-made” because we have the means within our grasp to control, contain, and mitigate this pandemic of slaughter.

Moreover, Americans – despite spending billions annually on the police and surveillance state, and seeing the Constitution shredded in the process – are not anymore safe from domestic terrorism/mass shootings.

Before we jump to the root cause and the solution for this pandemic, however, several macabre statistics:

$$$ For every one hundred Americans, there are one hundred and sixteen guns in circulation. 

$$$ Factoring in that 68% of the U.S. population doesn’t own guns, this means that the 32% of the population that does own guns are, in some instances, more than tripling-down on gun ownership, according to a University of Chicago study.

$$$ One could argue, given the recent spike in gun sales this Black Friday, and since, that gun ownership for some has become a fetish.  Indeed, some are probably curling up with their .357 on Friday nights.

$$$ Americans own 50% of all guns on the planet, per CNN.

$$$ Mass shootings, defined by the FBI as four or more individuals being shot during the same event, are now so common that many events no longer make the local newscast.

$$$ Since the Sandy Hook massacre (where 20 children were mowed down, not including adults, by a deranged psychopath), the U.S. has on average one mass shooting per day; and no week has gone by w/out a mass shooting, since President Obama entered office.

$$$ The guns of choice by the mass murder community: semi-automatic handguns, followed by assault rifles.

And who do we blame for the mayhem and the slaughter….?  That’s easy, we should correctly blame gun manufacturers, gun manufacturers’ advocacy groups - like the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the politicians who are owned by the manufacturers and their lobbying arm (that is to say, the GOP and some Dems).

Now Republicans, like sock puppets, are quick to tell us that guns don’t kill people, but rather, people kill people.  But the adroit response to that is guns are a tool, a killing tool.  And the efficacy of a gun as a killing tool, versus a knife or a man or woman’s bare hands, is incomparable.  As I wrote this piece last Saturday, Reuters reported that a would-be Jihadi attacked an older man with a knife in an East London train station.  Three individuals were injured by that knife, with no fatalities.  Terrible.  Now compare these injuries in London, England, which deploys tough gun control laws, to the shooting rampage that recently occurred San Bernardino, CA - USA, with relatively highly loose gun laws (vis a vis London)?

Quite simply, the comparison is obvious, and this comparison easily demonstrates why guns are key in the mayhem and destruction they create.

The GOP’s behavior or fanaticism, in regards their advocacy for gun manufacturers, has become so psychotic and questionable that they recently slammed legislation that would have disallowed suspected U.S. terrorist on the no-fly list from gun ownership.  The GOP, which has not historically questioned the no-fly list, suddenly finds the list to be an issue, when it comes to restricting gun ownership.

Yes, you read that the correctly.  The GOP, which is forever banging the fear gong over Islamic terrorist infiltration, supports gun ownership by suspected U.S. terrorist.

So what’s the solution?  Nothing revolutionary here, JMH would argue for a sensible two-pronged approach.   First, adopt a gun buyback program, not unlike that utilized in Australia, which removed 20% of that nation’s guns from circulation.  The effect of which in Australia is unquestioned, in mitigating and driving down the number of mass shootings.  Here in the States a person could turn in a gun w/out question, in regards ownership or licensing, and receive a receipt from the local gendarmes; this receipt could in turn be utilized at tax time as a tax deduction, or refunded by the government for cash.  How to finance such a scheme?  That’s easy, place an assessment or tax on all future gun sales to pay for this program.

And prong two?  That would be tort reform of an entirely different nature, than what the U.S. has seen over the last several decades.  During that time, the legal interests of business and business owners have triumphed over the legal interests of consumers, labor, and third party victims in tort reform initiatives.  We can see this in SCOTUS ruling(s) that slowly but surely eroded the ability to bring class action law suits.  Globally, we have seen Big Business lobby for, and insert within free trade agreements (e.g. TPP), extra judicial courts designed to support multinational enterprises, guarantee profits, and fight a sovereign nation’s ability to regulate business and strengthen environmental/safety regulation.  Gun manufacturers are no different in their assault upon the rule of law.  They have rigged our courts and laws not only for positive outcomes, but achieved the ability to cut off litigation against their products, in many circumstances.

Here, think of the PLCAA, which provides sizable legal liability loopholes for gun manufacturers and gun dealers.

Why is holding gun manufacturers accountable absolutely critical to any real gun reform in this country?  Well, that’s easy… as usual, follow the money.  With gun manufacturers being held liable for their product, like nearly every other business within the Unites States, the gun manufacturers themselves will be very quick to drive gun control legislation.  Gun manufacturers’ bottom lines, and their ability to operate as going concerns, will require strong gun control laws.  With the repeal of PLCAA, some states might even want to consider strict liability laws for gun products.

What this means, dear readers, is:  That by holding gun manufacturers accountable and liable for their products, these same manufacturers will have to build foreseen litigation costs, and future awards, into the price of their product.  Which alone, should put a crimp on gun sales.

Presently, thanks largely to the GOP, the medical, public, and social costs of gun ownership – and mass killings – are picked up by the American public, instead of gun owners and gun manufacturers.  Very much like the social costs generated by Big Tobacco were carried by the American public and the taxpayer for decades.

Like Big Tobacco, and now Big Oil, the gun industry is a commercial enterprise that needs to be held to account for the social costs they generate.  Utilizing Wall Street banks as yet another example, “social costs” are defined as the price to produce a good or service, such as swaps and derivatives, plus the “external cost,” the subsequent bailout of the banking industry and the damage to the global economy.  When private plus external costs are greater than the selling price of the good or service, the deficit is picked up by society or the taxpayer and is a “social cost.”  See also Big Carbon, climate change, the destruction of the planet, and the lack of a carbon tax.

The firearms industry is yet another classic example of a large business group privatizing the profits of their product, while leaving Americans and taxpayers to pick up the social costs and mop up the subsequent blood bath.  That is to say, socialism of the very worst kind: socialism for the plutocracy – socialism for gun manufacturers.

In this instance, the gun industries’ social costs are a pandemic of killing, maimed bodies, suicides, and orphaned children (and all the irreparable harm that ensues).  That is, gun manufacturers, and their lobbying arm’s behavior – the NRA and the GOP – are obscene. 

Photo via Progreso Weekly

One possible out for gun manufacturers, and yet another prohibitive check against gun ownership, is making sure that all gun owners carry liability insurance as a precondition to buying and owning a gun (these policies would have minimum limits of say a million dollars, in proportion to the potential bodily injury guns can inflict).  Subject to state regulation and review, the gun manufacturers and dealers might be added as additional insureds upon the gun owners’ policies.  The only issue here is most insurance companies will not cover criminal acts, illegal acts, or acts of terrorism. 

All of which could hasten the drive by gun manufacturers to push for: tighter back ground checks; a three day cooling off period; the prohibition of guns sales to folks on federal terror tracking lists, as well as, known violent criminal offenders & terrorist; ceasing to sell assault rifles & semi-automatics; and an annual mental health assessment for all gun owners.  (If citizens have to pass a test to drive a car, than gun owners should be examined by a doctor, preferably annually.)

If you want anything done in America, given the egregious state of our democracy, one has to go to the money source.  In this instance, effective gun control legislation and reform will, ultimately, be led by American gun manufacturers.  The sooner Americans hold gun manufacturers liable for their products, the sooner effective gun control legislation will go into place. 

As it stands now, gun manufacturers have zero responsibility for the tsunami of blood, and the pandemic, they have unleashed.

This industry is ripe for a correction.

P.S.  Full disclosure:  Some members of my family own guns, and a smaller number own an obscene amount of guns.  This editorial should make for interesting holiday conversation.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015