Ways we can address gun violence without waiting on Congress

There are certain things, we have no choice to accept. The adage is that there are only
two guarantees in life -- death and taxes.

Unnecessary occurrences of the former, however, are disturbing. The latest reminder
came on Wednesday when a suspect in a deadly rampage at a Florida high school, who
has been described as a troubled teenager who posted disturbing material on social media
before going on a shooting spree that killed 17 people and wounded more than a dozen
others, according to law enforcement officials and former schoolmates.

I was on my lunch break from work at one of my favorite eateries, Dad’s BBQ in
Pittsburg, CA, when I heard the news. The Mississippi style BBQ restaurant has a TV in
its establishment. Their food is off the hook but I’m surprised I didn’t lose my appetite when
I saw ABC News interrupt regular programming with breaking news.

Without overly revisiting the carnage, events like this have become too frequent. Honestly,
one is too many. There isn’t one uniform way of tracking school shootings in the United
States. Methodologies and definitions vary with each group collecting data, offering a
range of numbers on the prevalence of school shootings in recent years.

By one broad metric, there have been nearly 300 school shootings in America since 2013,
according to Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, which is an advocacy group that
seeks to prevent gun violence. The group defines a school shooting as any time a firearm
discharges a live round inside a school building or on a school grounds. Its database
includes incidents when no one was injured; attempted or completed suicide, with no
intent to injure others; and cases when a gun was fired unintentionally, resulting in injury
or death.

As a father of three (one in fifth grade and two in third grade), I would never get over it
if any of my kids were killed. Heck, even if they survived a dastardly crime like this, I
would not be the same.

Each tragedy brings out many passionate discussions about guns. I don’t own a gun, but I
have read and heard various opinions about guns, pro or anti. Some I agree with, others I
do not, and others are just boiler-plate statements or sophomoric memes for social media.

Feeds on social media become packed with politics in times like this. People screaming,
calling names, and posting hate towards each other. Heaven forbid we actually sit down
and find a solution.

Instead, people demonize or defend the NRA. I’m not an NRA member but they are not
the problem. Gun enthusiasts bellow how guns don’t just fall off shelves. Well, that is not
the answer we should be seeking either.

No gun law would have prevented the mass shooting in Florida or any other recent one.
So what is the answer? Guns won’t be banned in this country. Let’s get that established
now. Criminals are not going to walk into the police station and turn their weapons over
to the authorities. All of the finger pointing and “thoughts and prayers” solve nothing.
There are a segment of gun owners who suggest arming teachers and/or having armed
guards on school campuses. I can go along with the latter but that solution is only a
Band-Aid in the long run.  

Hate can’t be legislated but there are solutions. This is not a politician problem, be it
Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, George Bush, etc. This is also not a gun
problem, nor a gun access problem. The finger ultimately points at ourselves as a society
and until we acknowledge such, the cycle will continue.  

We need a complete overhaul. We need consistency. We need a moral code that can
encompasses all beliefs. It can and must happen.

We need a consistent and one rule federal gun code that rules the entire country. One set
of laws for everyone. They need to be consistent, strongly enforced and strongly protected.
That answers the second amendment and yet provides a true set of strict guidelines.

So what is the answer? Is it gun control? You can have strict background checks and you
can reinstitute the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that expired in 2004, but to think you are
ever going to keep guns out of the hands of people is naïve. That horse left the barn a long
time ago.

I also think we need to re-evaluate our entertainment and video game culture. Guns may be
the vehicle for the tragedy, but the aforementioned industries have at least some culpability.
These mass murderers are young adults that immersed themselves in violent movies and
video games. Why has there been such an increase in mental illness and anger issues?
Violence becoming normalized in our society is a significant reason. I’m 45 years old and
the movies that are PG-13 now would have been rated R when I was a kid.

If you want to say, “Well, it’s the parents’ job to police what the kids are watching or what
video games kids are playing.” True, but if nothing good comes from such forms of
entertainment, why have them in the first place?

However, as long as the First Amendment exists, censorship is going to be an uphill battle.
Plus, given that you have more dual-working parents, policing what they watch becomes
harder.

This is a multi-layered problem that needs to be addressed at every level, but there are two
ways that we can address this without waiting for Congress to pass a law, as many suggest.
Scrap the idea of waiting for Congress, you’ll be waiting a long time.

First, educate your children on gun safety and implement it in schools. OK, I hear educators
screaming like hell right now but to make a long-term difference, there needs to be outside
the box ideas. What we are doing is not working. The definition of insanity is doing the
same thing and expecting different results. Have you ever heard of the Eagle Eddie
Program? The program teaches children in preschool through third grade four important
steps to take if they find a gun. These steps are presented by the program’s mascot, Eddie
Eagle, in an easy-to-remember format consisting of four simple rules. “If you see a gun: Stop!
Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.”

The following description of the program isn’t in my words, but comes from the National
Rifle Association website:

“The program started in 1988 and has reached more than 25 million children in all 50 states.
This program was developed through the combined efforts of such qualified professionals
as clinical psychologists, reading specialists, teachers, curriculum specialists, urban housing
safety officials, and law enforcement personnel.

“Anyone may teach the Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program, and NRA membership is not
required. The program may be readily incorporated into existing school curriculum, taught
in a one- to five-day format. Materials available through this program are: student
workbooks, seven-minute animated video (available on DVD), instructor guides, brochures,
and student reward stickers. Program materials are also available in Spanish.”

I remember taking driver’s education after my freshman year of high school and our
teacher (Randall McClure) emphasized, “A car is a weapon just like a gun.” He later added
that driving a car comes with a big responsibility, similarly to possessing a gun. I didn’t
understand it at the time, but it resonates to this day.

Therein lies where youngsters need to learn the importance of gun safety at a young age,
regardless of whether or not they go on to become gun owners. Why? Because you are
driving one weapon and shooting another. It’s easy to say it “all starts in the home.” True.
However, not every home has an adult equipped to teach them such. By no means am I
promoting gun ownership but they need to be dealt with as a fact of life, just like electrical
sockets and swimming pools.

Second, stop stigmatizing mental illness. Guns are inanimate objects and I believe most gun
owners are responsible people. Honestly, the last people I worry about with guns are hunters
or NRA members because they are well-versed in gun safety and are not the kind to walk
into Walmart and kill hundreds of people.

For all the time, money and research we spend on cancer, I think it’s high time we devote
the same energy toward finding a cure and/or research for mental illness. It’s been too long
that this disease has been stigmatized by society.

Now don’t get the wrong idea — I’m not asking that we suddenly stop cancer fundraisers.
What I’m asking, however, is that we start devoting the same attention to mental illness.
Whether it is raising money for research or simply looking at it as a legitimate illness, as
opposed to a dirty little secret, would be a start.

Will these two steps ever prevent tragedies? No, at least not on a case-by-case basis.
However, they are practical solutions that will make a difference in the long run as well as
preserve the Second Amendment.

Some realities, we have to deal with because of the Second Amendment and its freedoms
but we don’t have to live with 17 dead high school students, 59 dead concert goers, 50
people in a nightclub, 28 elementary school kids or 27 people in a church.