Gun Control Is Dead, or “how to make progress in a deeply divided America”
Gun control died in December 2012, if it wasn’t already dead long before.
“If the execution-style murder of 20 seven-year-old children doesn’t make us act, the murder of 50 gay people certainly won’t,” my sister, Emily, said today. Her take is raw. It stings. It’s uncomfortable. And it’s completely correct.
Emily cares about gun control. I care about gun control. You probably care about gun control. Amid the worst mass shooting in American history, we care about gun control more than ever.
But we’re doing it wrong. The more we talk about gun control, the worse off we’ll be.
Because while you might associate gun control with, say, banning assault weapons, someone else associates gun control with restricting freedom. Constitution disgracing. The erosion of America. Liberals. Being wusses.
“Gun control” is no longer a literal phrase. It’s a partisan lightning bolt so deeply lodged in an American divide that no amount of human strength can alter it.
Gun control is dead. Gun control laws (in America) are never coming to fruition. Gun control is a waste of mental energy.
We’ve been playing the wrong game. If we want America’s unrivaled leadership in gun deaths to change, it’s time we set some new ground rules. Here are a few to start with:
1. Common ground matters; your impassioned arguments don’t.
I know you have the stats to back you up. I know you’ve studied this issue. I get you’re passionate. But none of that matters, because rationality no longer applies when talking guns in America.
Start by discovering where you align. Ask where the other person is right instead of targeting where they’re wrong. Do you agree it’d be good if the people in Orlando didn’t die?
It’s not trivial. Start there, and move to the next safest assertion. All of a sudden you’re outlining what mutually agreeable American progress looks like.
In short, we need to act like (effective) politicians, because our politicians have failed us and will continue to do so.
2. Stop taking extreme positions.
If you support a reduction of firearms in America, do not bring up Australia. Seriously, stop.
Yes, Australia banned all guns. Yes, Australia’s murder rate fell off a cliff after it did so. But no, that’s not the right solution for America because it’s not going to happen.
So not only are you citing an example that is completely unrealistic, you are enraging your opposition. If you don’t see that, then let’s imagine one country — let’s call it Badland — brutally criminalized abortions and instituted weekly pregnancy tests for all women. And let’s imagine teenage pregnancy fell off a cliff, along with a reduction in child poverty. “OK,” your opposition says after you make a case for women’s rights, “then how do you explain Badland’s amazing results?” You’d probably punch something, right?
Australia might not be extreme to you, but it is extreme to a whole host of Americans. Consider your audience.
And gun supporters, arming everybody is not a solution. It’s an indisputable fact that more guns is directly related to more gun deaths. You cannot argue against that unless you pull a fabricated take from a disreputable news source. Don’t be that person.
3. Reframe the discussion — “gun control” is dead.
Language matters. Allow me to introduce the Second Amendment Protection Movement. The Movement asserts that if we don’t use common sense, we’ll be in danger of losing our Second Amendment rights.
Sea change — a pendulum swinging abruptly to the other side — happens when a society gets pushed over the edge. In the case of guns, this would mean gun rights for the common upstanding American being drastically reduced. We don’t want that. So if we care about preserving our right to bear arms as our founding fathers imagined, then we need to undo the unintended and damaging consequences societal evolution has wrought.
Banning assault weapons isn’t gun control — it’s Second Amendment protection. By making it harder for a lunatic or terrorist to shoot up a school or club en masse, we’re making it easier for the upstanding American citizen to own guns.
Stronger background checks and/or licensing requirements are also about protecting Second Amendment rights. True Americans have the right to buy guns. Anyone who misuses guns is misusing the rights we’ve fought so hard to keep. Thus, we ought to preserve and protect the right of gun ownership for the people who know how to uphold and respect it.
4. If you’re a true American, you’re open to changing your mind.
Exceptionalism has always been at the root of American history and American progress. We do things better. And a big part of doing things better has been an openness to whatever the best ideas are.
We don’t do things purely for ideological reasons — we do things because we think they’re the best decisions. America wouldn’t be America without this spirit. And with a commitment to arriving at the best decision comes an openness to changing your mind.
You should put down in writing what your stance on guns is, and why you hold that stance. You don’t need to share it, but doing so puts a heck of a lot more pressure on your logic. At worst, act like 1 million people are going to read it, and are going to judge your stance. If you find holes you can’t fill — that’s OK. In fact, that’s normal. Be comfortable with the idea you don’t know everything. None of us do.
Changing your mind is not weakness — it’s strength. A favorite Emerson quote: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
5. We’re not making gun laws — we’re making gun experiments.
Laws are associated with politics which is associated with fear and hate and distrust and misinformation. We don’t need gun laws; we need experiments that help us arrive at the right answer.
We agree we want to preserve Second Amendment rights, and we agree we want to reduce senseless deaths at the hands of guns. I don’t know the right answer. Do you? No, you don’t.
But I bet we also agree that we could try a few different things. If one solution doesn’t work, try something else. Give a few different groups the power of experiment creation, so long as the experiments meet our basic guidelines.
What a democratic process. Imagine that.
To donate to the Orlando victims’ families, go here. To give blood, OneBlood serves the Orlando area. To contribute to a better America, have at least one conversation with someone who opposes your views, and don’t stop until you’ve found common ground on at least five things.
My sister, Emily, was the inspiration for several of my thoughts. Thanks, Em.
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