On a day when several weak-kneed senators acquiesced to the NRA’s whim, and defeated a chance at making some progress in reducing gun violence, we have a stark contrast to how our country is dealing with the atrocities of Monday in Boston.
According to a study (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.html ), there have been over 3500 gun deaths since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. That’s about 28 gun deaths a day. (Even if we factored in gun-related suicide, the number would still be about 10 per day.) If a terrorist’s bomb went off in a city in America each day and killed 10-28 people, we would be a country in shock and panic, and be clammoring to find out who was doing this bombing and have it stopped at all costs.
What kind of life would it be for us if we knew that dozens of lives were going to be snuffed out each day at the barrel of a gun? (Statistically, it is unlikely to happen to most of us. And we just go on each day, never giving it a moment’s thought.) However, for the deaths of 3 people and the injury of nearly 200 people in Boston on Monday, our country is in convulsions to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice, for fear that they are planning on striking again somewhere else.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/all-in-/51577097#51577097
I recommend watching this piece by Chris Hayes, comparing and contrasting bomb terrorism and gun violence. Here’s an excerpt:
“The cycle [of mass casualty events] is the same, something horrible happens, we all watch it happen in real-time and feel terrible and want to know who were the perpetrators, what are the circumstances, and why did it happen. We get some inkling and have a discussion of what the implications are for policy, what we might do to prevent something from this happening again in the future.”
“When it’s guns, when the killer is a shooter, the answer is nothing. we are told this just happens. But if it gets put in a special category called terrorism, then the answer is, everything must be done, no cost should be spared, no legal precedent should stand in the way. Once it gets put in the terrorism bucket, we must do everything in our power. no one ever says people are going to die from terrorism, that’s just the way it is. and if it’s in the gun bucket, yeah, 30,000 people are going to die every year from guns. That’s just the way it is.”