Here we go again. Another week, another American massacre.
The time to stop the next massacre is now. Just like after Columbine, Sandy Hook, Newtown, Parkland, Santa Fe, Boulder, Atlanta, Buffalo, Uvalde …
We’ve been doing it wrong and must change course. Let’s stop this finally through effective policy action. Thoughts and prayers are great, but faith without works is dead — as are tens of thousands of Americans killed by guns every single year.
I’m a teacher who lost a student to gun violence this January, so it’s personal. The teachers are not OK.
The United States has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world, with 120 guns per 100 people. If “good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns,” we should be the world’s safest country. In reality, we have the highest rates of firearm homicide and firearm death (including suicide, “accidental” shootings and public massacre) of all developed countries. It got worse during the pandemic.
Scientific American, a respected science publication, stated just last week that “The science is abundantly clear: More guns do not stop crime. Guns kill more children each year than auto accidents. More children die by gunfire in a year than on-duty police officers and active military members.”
We’re #1 in all the wrong ways here. When will enough be enough? Maybe the botched response by police, the “good guys with guns,” at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, will bring us to our senses.
In doing “something,” we must do the right things to get the intended effects and save lives. Let’s ignore the usual partisan positions for a moment and look at legitimate research. The science is clear. We know what works, and we want it!
1. Universal background checks. Rep. Brian King has proposed this for years in the Utah Legislature. Utahns overwhelmingly support this measure. It would prevent criminals from easily, legally acquiring weapons. The Rules committee held it hostage every time.
2. Extreme Risk Protection Orders. These “Red Flag laws” were a top recommendation from the 2018 Utah Safe Schools Commission and had support from then-Speaker Greg Hughes. A law like this could have stopped the Uvalde shooter from getting a weapon given his history of threats. Utah state Rep. Steve Handy ran this bill and was shot down every time.
3. Safe Storage Laws. Safety experts and firearms trade groups, including the NRA, agree on the need for safe firearm storage. Most school shooters acquire guns from home or the home of a relative where they are not “secured in a meaningful way.” This law might have prevented the shooting that killed my student. It could also drastically cut high rates of youth suicide, and is recommended by the Utah Department of Health. Rep. Elizabeth Weight ran this bill several times, and it was killed in committee every time.
Make no mistake: we are on borrowed time. The SafeUT app is a novel way to collect tips and provide limited mental health services, but it also opens a window on threats in Utah schools. We have already had many dangerous close calls in Utah schools. In 2014, a Fremont High School student took a gun to school with intent to open fire on other students. In 2016, a Mueller Park Junior High student took guns to school and fired into the ceiling.
Nineteen children and two teachers gave up their lives in Uvalde, Texas, for the unregulated mob to have unfettered access to firearms last week. This is no “well-regulated militia.” It’s wrong.
I call on all of Utah’s candidates and elected officials, Republican and Democrat, to state they will co-sponsor this legislation because protecting children shouldn’t be partisan. “Good guys” can keep their guns and the rest of us will be safer — at school, places of worship, the grocery store, the movie theater, in public, and at home.
Utahns, ask candidates and elected officials the hard questions at every opportunity: What are they doing to prevent mass shootings and suicide? Let’s demand stricter regulations on the weapons that are killing us.
Deborah Gatrell is a social studies teacher in Granite School District and a veteran with more than 20 years of military service. Opinions expressed here are her own.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/Vc5iCZP
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