Our Other Health Crisis
While it may seem like a strange time to talk about gun sense, unlike COVID-19, gun violence is a national deadly epidemic that already has a known cure. Last year's deaths (whether willful, malicious, or accidental) topped out at 15,208 and as of the second week of March we have already lost 8,352 American lives in 2020 to gun violence.(1) The statistics tell us the spread of this “disease” is on the rise, and yet the cure is at our fingertips.
While there has not been much talk of gun control among Presidential candidates, several gun control plans are in circulation with the one put forward by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) being the most ambitious.(2) The plan would require that gun owners not just pass a background check, but obtain a license to be able to purchase and own a firearm. Booker sums up his new plan in one sentence: “If you need a license to drive a car, you should need a license to own a gun.” Critics say that licensing and other restrictions put too much of a burden on gun owners. However states like Massachusetts, which already has a licensing program in place, consistently report the lowest gun deaths in the US.3 The research is solid. Places with easier access to guns and more firearms have more gun deaths.(4)
We are a nation of doers, problem solvers, innovators. A nation that values freedoms like the right to bear arms, but also the right to live in secure and healthy communities. Booker’s proposal and many others in discussion, do not ask lawful gun owners to surrender weapons, but instead ask that they abide by regulations designed to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. If we were offered a cure for COVID-19 today, we would embrace it immediately to ensure the health and safety of our great nation. Today, we have a cure to gun violence, which raises the question--what are we waiting for?
Written by Mary Obropta and Anna Obropta
1 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs 2 https://www.newsweek.com 3 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs 4 https://www.vox.com/2019