DID YOU KNOW "Guns Don't Kill People, People with Guns Do"?

This morning’s events at Summit Preparatory High School in Redwood City serve to remind us that as more and more adults and children carry guns we all pay the price.

The CBS TV headline blared: “ Shooting Scare At Redwood City High School Prompts SWAT Team Response, Evacuations”

The City of Redwood City’s press announcement simply stated: “the school is being evacuated at this time based on a 9-1-1 call. There is no confirmed gunman, or shooting and there are no injuries to report.”

But it wasn’t hard to believe the more horrifying scenario. The chart above from the Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center study of school shooting incidents from January 2008-August 2013 depicts various motivations for school shooters. To delve into the findings a bit “these shootings were perpetrated by 97 people, almost entirely male, with only 4% being perpetrated by females. Most of the shootings involved the use of small arms and only 11% involved the use of multiple weapons. Less than half of the shootings (46%) were committed by current or former students at the school and only 8% were committed by current or former employees. Significantly, at least 40% of school shooters during the five-year period had no connection to the school where the attack occurred.

Half of the victims of school shootings were intentionally targeted by the gunman with only 21% being killed or wounded due to indiscriminate gunfire. In 57% of the incidents the perpetrator directly knew the victims. The majority of the perpetrators were between 16‐18 years old (31%) with the second largest group being 13‐15 year old (23%).”

In addition we now have the National Rifle Association (NRA) getting into the action and looking for ways to promote gun ownership. Their latest horrifying attempt consists of riding the publicity being generated regarding campus rapes. The NRA is now promoting guns as a way to reduce rape on college campuses. But as a letter co-sponsored by Know Your Title IX, an advocacy group that works against gender-based violence reads: “By saying that guns will prevent rape, they’re putting the burden on the victims,” And even more importantly “they’re denying the indisputable fact that the vast majority of campus assaults are perpetrated by a partner, friend, or close acquaintance — the types of people around whom people would never think to carry a gun.”

For the reality of gun ownership as reported years back by CNN’s Samuel Burke is that in 2010, 13,186 people died in terrorist attacks worldwide, while 31,672 people were killed with firearms in America alone. In 2013 the year of the Boston Marathon terrorist attack, four people died in that event but at least eleven people were shot by toddlers. (http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/toddlers-killed-more-americans-terrorists-did-year)

The reality is that gun users are getting younger and younger. When you think about it the Second Amendment doesn’t specify a particular age for appropriate gun ownership it simply states “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” In the wake of the Virginia Tech and Columbine incidents we are no longer shocked to think that there might be a shooter at a local college or high school campus.

Right here in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2013, Sunnyvale voters approved Measure C, which bans magazines that can hold more than ten rounds of ammunition. In 2014, a San Jose federal judge upheld the ordinance, acknowledging that while ownership of ammunition is protected by the Second Amendment, the city’s regulation is constitutional because it is narrow enough and justified by public policy reasons. While this decision is being appealed other cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Mountain View are also incorporating these restrictions.

A year ago this month when the Idaho State legislature was considering a bill permitting guns on Idaho’s state college and university campuses, Professor Greg Hampikian of Boise State University put it best in his provocatively titled NY Times article “When may I shoot a student?” “In terms of the campus murder rate — zero at present —I think that we can all agree that guns don’t kill people, people with guns do.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/opinion/when-may-i-shoot-a-student.html)

What do you think should we be increasing the number of people with guns by easing restrictions on gun ownership or reducing the number of people with guns by further restricting gun ownership?

Photo credit: https://publicintelligence.net/understanding-school-shootings/