But America seems to be the place the whole world thinks of when apparently ordinary people use guns for grotesque acts of violence. America stands alone in its historic and cultural attachment to guns. America stands armed. — Jonathan Mann
Reflecting on the tragedy in Connecticut, as well as the shooting in Portland earlier this week and the shooting in Colorado during the Dark Knight Rises screening in July, it is clear that gun violence is out of control. In the last six months we have had three major tragedies related to gun violence. While some argue this has nothing to do with gun control, I wonder how it could not?
We have a gun obsessed culture in the US with the highest rate of gun possession per capita and one of the highest rates of gun violence in the world. They are easily accessible and can be purchased at your local Wal-Mart. And while some do own guns for the purpose of hunting or home protection, others obtain guns with the intent of doing harm to others. Jonathan Mann states that 100,000 people are shot each year with guns obtained by those with the intent of perpetrating violence against others.
Legislation that makes gun possession by those with violent tendencies possible is driven by politics. The NRA has aligned itself with the Republican Party and the Christian Right. Man explains that:
The laws are being driven by politics, and the politics are being driven by groups such as the National Rifle Association. Once a relatively modest organization of gun enthusiasts and hunters, it has become one of the most powerful political groups in the country. The Washington Post estimates that the NRA succeeded in helping elect four out of every five candidates it endorsed in the 2010 congressional election.
While gun control has been and is the focus of political campaigns, we must also recognize it as a religious issue and a life issue. While some claim that “guns don’t kill, people do,” there is much more to be examined here. While people are agents in these matters, we have a responsibility to consider how we might reduce the injustice of taking lives. Restricting access to firearms could prevent such devastating tragedies as we have seen in the last six months and throughout US history.
From a feminist stance, gun control is a gender issue. There is a strong connection between domestic violence and access to guns. Women murdered by intimate partners are more likely to be killed by guns than any other weapon. In fact, access to firearms makes women eight times more likely to be killed by her partner. In addition, statistics show that purchasing hand guns for self defense by women is insignificant in reducing threats of violence. Thus, gun control could protect the lives of women and reduce the rate of deaths caused by domestic violence.
From a Christian stance we are called to be peacemakers, to respect the dignity of life. I don’t understand how we achieve that through supporting politics that result in making assault weapons accessible to persons with intent to do harm. Stricter gun laws will protect life rather than end life, they will honor human dignity and encourage peace.
I was with a group of friends on Friday when news of the tragedy in Connecticut broke. Someone called for everyone to join together in prayer and another protested and said “we don’t need to pray, we need to act.” What an important statement. So often we think that prayer is enough; however prayer is never enough. Action is necessary. We must mourn this tragedy, but we must also focus on taking action to prevent further violent acts. Gun control is the action needed.
Gina Messina-Dysert, Ph.D. is a Feminist theologian, ethicist, and activist. She is Director of the Center for Women’s Interdisciplinary Research and Education at Claremont Graduate University, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics at Loyola Marymount University, and Co-founder and Project Weaver of Feminism and Religion. Gina has authored multiple articles and the forthcoming book Rape Culture and Spiritual Violence. She is co-editor (with Rosemary Radford Ruether) of the forthcoming anthology, Feminism and Religion in the 21st Century and is a contributor to the Rock and Theology project sponsored by the Liturgical Press. Her research interests are theologically and ethically driven, involve a feminist and interdisciplinary approach, and are influenced by her activist roots and experience working with survivors of rape and domestic violence. Gina can be followed on Twitter @FemTheologian and her website can be accessed at http://ginamessinadysert.com.
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Thanks for this Gina. We have to stop the NRA. On Saturday’s Up with Chris Hayes, Esther Aramah of WBAI also insisted that we must address a “culture of violence” in which masculinity is defined by repression of emotions which are then acted out in violence. Something has gone very wrong in our culture. It is as you often say a “rape culture” and “a culture of violence.
see: “http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-gray/bushmaster-rifle-ad-masculinity-gun-violence-newtown-adam-lanza_b_2317924.html
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Gina, I’m with you. I think the part of the Second Amendment the NRA loves to quote should be repealed. Then all the members of the NRA need to be sent to monasteries and convents, locked in (without their guns, which should be melted and recycled) and taught to understand the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. (I am such a dreamer.) At the very least, yes, we should write to our members of congress. And send money to the Brady Campaign!
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Yes, I agree. But I think we also have to speak out about women who get caught up in this culture. According to newspaper reports, Nancy Lanza was “a gun enthusiast” who taught her sons to shoot. Adam used her guns in his killing rampage. This is more, in my judgment, than a woman getting a gun for self-defense. I don’t mean to make light of her difficulties in raising a son with what appear to be mental health issues, but I think we need to acknowledge gender complexities and not reinforce binary oppositions.
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I too have been thinking that Nancy Lanza was the one who purchased those guns and that she would probably be alive today if she had not. The culture of violence affects us all. Still, it would be fooosh to deny that most victims of gun homicide by close others are female victims of men or that most of those who kill many others indiscriminately as Adam Lanza did are boys and men. We need to get to all of the causes of these tragedies. We need to pass strict gun safety laws, to provide mental health support for individuals and families, and we need to think about why and how our culture celebrates violence
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The Second Amendment calls for a “well regulated militia”. It is time that limits are placed on that amendment. The First Amendment has limits (you can’t cry “fire” in a crowded theater) and we all accept that. We need rational measures to stop the gun violence in this country. Close the gun show loop hole that still allows 40% of weapons to be sold with no backround check. Re-instate the assault weapons ban (no one needs an assault weapon to hunt a deer for the table). Ban rapid fire pistols and clips. Investigate anyone who buys hundreds of rounds of ammunition over the internet (make sure they have a background check). Buy back the assault weapons that are out there and incarcerate those who buy, sell or use them in crimes from now on. Also, the “R” rating should be placed on videos and movies with massive violence. At the momen slight nudity earns an “R” rating while mass murder and mayhem earns a “PG-13”. That needs to be reversed. And look at the societal stresses that are causing young men to go beserk because they can’t imagin a future for themselves. Why is it just to have a tiny number of millionaires and billionaires who fight to keep wages so low that most of us struggle just to have a home, food and health care? The men who commit these crimes are symptoms of a very sick society.
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I firmly believe that guns do not kill people, but that people kill people. Guns are only the medium that individuals use to inflict violence (which is not to say that we do not need to include them into the conversation)
We need to look at mental illness and the ways in which violent acts get played out within society today and the past often repeats in the present. I hate to be the one that says this, but I wonder if Adam Lanza was a victim of bullying? Not that it gives him an “out” by any means but we have to examine the ways in which children, who have yet to develop to a level both mentally and physically to make decisions for themselves, are shaped by the world in which they live in. It was a tragedy but also a chance to really have a changing and thoughtful conversation about a lot of topics that really shape the ways in which we live and exist within the world today.
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Everyone is sick of that tired old phrase “Guns don’t kill people…” In China a madman attacked 20 school kids this past week with a knife and no one died. There will always be sick humans around, we do need to improve health care access for everyone in this country. But we also need to curb the isane addiction to guns. Enough is enough.
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John;
As someone who has enjoyed target shooting, I found myself feeling silenced by the anger aroused by this most recent tragedy. I think that’s a shame, since I strongly believe that, as long as we cannot converse thoughtfully with those we disagree with, we will never find a resolution to our society’s problems. Thank you for your comment.
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John, I completely agree that we need to provide mental health services to disturbed individuals. A friend of a friend had a bipolar son who wouldn’t take his meds and set fire to the family home. After a few days of emergency treatment for him, there were no further resources, and the family was told to let him live homeless for their own protection. This lack of resources is not acceptable, and I suspect Nancy Lanza had similar problems. Nancy Lanza and her son were not protected by a functioning mental health system. I wonder if in a kind of twisted way she bought those guns “to protect herself” because she felt no one else would help and protect her.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-mental-illness-conversation_n_2311009.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
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