Fuck the NRA, Fuck the GOP - Demand Stronger Gun Laws Now

To all of the politicians that send their "thoughts and prayers" to families who lost loved ones to gun violence, but refuse to change our current laws, fuck you.

To the NRA that fights common sense gun safety laws and refuses to acknowledge that we have an epidemic on our hands, fuck you.

How many more people have to die needlessly in order for our politicians to finally act?

America Has a Problem

The gun epidemic is an issue that is uniquely American.  While the GOP and NRA say that the right to bare arms is a right that is uniquely American, so are deaths by guns:

 And in States where there is a higher percentage of household gun ownership, there are a greater amount of gun deaths.

Does Chicago Prove That Strict Gun Laws Do Not Work?

One of the first things that people who are against stricter gun laws point to is the gun violence in cities with strict gun laws, such as Chicago.  What gets lost in that, is the fact that most of the crime committed in those cities is committed with guns purchased from cities and states with lax gun laws.  In order to see real progress in this epidemic, we need to have federally mandated strict gun laws.

The True Epidemic 

While it is the unfortunate mass shootings that bring this issue to the forefront of the nation's consciousness in an unnerving regularity, the mass shootings are not the nation's true problem.  The true problem is the day to day gun victims.  From the Chicago Tribune:

Using the now-common definition of a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are injured or killed, there were 351 mass shootings in the United States this year before San Bernardino, or more than one per day. In those shootings, a total of 447 people died and 1,292 people were injured.

Now let's use a year for which we have complete data on gun violence, 2013. That year, there were 363 mass shootings resulting in 502 deaths. But overall, 33,636 Americans died from gun violence that year. The number of gun homicides was 11,208. That means that victims of mass shootings made up 1.5 percent of all gun victims and 4.5 percent of gun homicide victims.

It is good that the country is talking about gun violence, but it is very important to make sure we talk about every aspect of gun violence, not just the mass shootings.  Republicans are going to be quick to state that it is not gun laws that need to be stronger, but instead we need to focus on mental health reform.  What that avoids is the fact that the mass amount of gun violence is committed by people who do not have a mental illness.

And of course Republicans don't address this simple fact: the overwhelming majority of gun homicides in America are not committed by people who have been declared mentally ill. They happen when abusive men kill their spouses or partners, when an argument between neighbors gets out of hand, when an angry ex-employee shoots his boss, when cycles of revenge spiral onward.

But if we only try to talk about guns when there are mass shootings, it allows Republicans to say, "It's not about the guns — this guy was just crazy!" (Never mind that there are people with mental illness everywhere in the world; only here is it so easy for them to arm themselves to the teeth.)

If Republicans (and I'd put special focus on the presidential candidates, since they're the ones who can get the most attention) are going to argue that the answer to gun violence is mental health reforms, they ought to be forced to get specific. Exactly which forms do they support? How exactly will each of those forms reduce gun violence? Will any of their ideas do anything to help the 95 percent of gun homicide victims who don't die in mass shootings?

 There are Solutions

While the country is scrambling for answers, there is a solution staring at us right in the face.  Between October 1996 and September 1997 Australia confiscated 650,000 guns.  It was the largest gun buyback program in history.  It also helped to dramatically reduce Australia's homicide and suicide rates.

While this solution may not be the right fit for the United States, there are a lot of countries who have strict gun control polices that we can model ourselves after.

Ultimately it comes to: is it the people, not the guns that are the reason why we have so many deaths, or does access to greater amount of guns mean a higher homicide and suicide rate. For people who say its the people not the guns, you then have to ask yourself, why are Americans more inclined to commit homicide and suicide?

As a country, to end this nightmare, we need to stand up, say fuck you to the NRA and GOP, and finally demand change.  Go here to find your representatives and demand change.