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.
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.
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