Under The Gun

Like many of us, I’ve spent the past few days horrified and, yet, transfixed by the footage of the Boston bombings. Saddened. Sickened. Absorbed by the tragedy.  And as each day passes and none of the usual suspects claim responsibility, we are drawn inexorably toward the conclusion that this was the act of some lone “home-grown” lunatic or, at least, an isolated coalition of the deranged.  Another product of a society with some sickness at its core that withers humanity and, in its place, allows the weeds of malevolence to grow.  A society that claims to live under grace but, in reality, lives under the gun.  While the United States spends its time prosecuting the case against the violence of other nations and cultures, it has lost sight of the deformities in its own reflection: the cruel affliction of violence twisted in on itself.

America, when will you be angelic?

Consider these statistics on gun violence in the US from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence:

·         there are around 30,000 deaths each year from gun violence;

·         around 1 in 3 gun deaths are homicides, giving 33 firearm homicides every single day;

·         38% of all gun casualties are children and young adults;

·         gun homicide is the leading cause of death for African American men and women aged 1-44 years;

·         from 1982 to 2012, there were 61 mass murders in the US across 30 states – an average of three per year; and

·         these mass murders are getting worse – the five worst mass murders on record have occurred in the last five years.

In the face of these numbers and their human costs, the US Senate rejected seemingly moderate gun reforms aimed at keeping weapons designed for no other purpose than to kill other human beings out of the hands of those who might seek to apply this purpose.  While the US does have broader cultural issues around guns and violence that it must address, the rejection of these gun reforms by the Senate is a very specific failure of morality.  It is a failure of the morality of conservative politics.  These reforms were voted down by Republicans – seemingly for political expedience and gamesmanship – despite the overwhelming support of the American public. They were voted down on a hollow justification of “individual rights”, by the self-same people who oppose marriage equality and sustain government intervention in the relationship between consenting adults. If, as is reported, some Republican Senators describe this as a victory, it is only a victory for cowardice and hypocrisy over humanity.  A victory for the moral terrorism of machine politics. 

America, when will you be worthy of your best hearts and minds, instead of pandering to the dystopian prayers of your worst?

It is staggering that this violence exists, let alone – for all practical purposes – it being government sanctioned, in a comparatively wealthy and sophisticated society.  This is not happening in some anarchic, war-torn, poor and emergent republic.  This is happening in the so-called “great republic”.  This is happening in a nation that continues to dictate morality to the world.  It begs the question: why do we listen?  How does the US maintain any influence and authority on the world stage? How does a nation so riddled through with hypocrisy and eaten away by inequality find the strength to stand on that stage and carry the audience away in a wilful suspension of disbelief?  Of course, the answer is obvious: they’ve got the guns.  Violence and fear are America’s damnation and its salvation.  Violence and fear destroy the soul of the nation, but also sustain its glistening, star-spangled facade.  The choice has been made.  America’s future is now slung in the holster upon its hip ... [fades to static]