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Wednesday, October 4, 2017

is this the time to stick to our guns?

Please read and comment.  Mahalo.

It’s on everyone’s minds this week. Amid all the other serious issues facing our country, the Las Vegas shooting has once again put guns in the middle of the national conversation.

Crisis creates trauma. This affects our decision-making in a variety of ways. Some people respond heroically, like the husband who died shielding his wife from a hail of bullets. Other people go into shock. Still others respond in fear and recoil from the public. Public figures have also reacted differently; late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel offered a serious, heartfelt message to the nation and our political leaders. Our political leaders offered empty, ritualized condolences — even as they contemplate legislation that will open more land to hunting and legalize silencers for guns.

You might think that mass shootings in America would make people realize that we need less semi-automatic killing machines in the hands of people who can snap even if they do pass a background check. But every time one of these tragedies occurs, gun sales go up — investors see this as such a sure bet that gun stocks soared after the Las Vegas shooting.

And these shootings are happening more often. In the last 1,735 days (since January 1, 2013) there have been 1,516 mass shootings. As of August of this year, there were more mass shootings than days in the year. They are so common that sometimes the news doesn’t even bother to report them all. Did you know that there was a shooting in Kansas on the same day as the Las Vegas shooting?

What happens to one of us happens to us all. Even if you didn’t know anyone in Las Vegas, the event caused you to think or talk or feel or listen or look. It caused me to write this. Which led you to read this. There is a ripple effect. Call it the collective unconscious, or interdependence, or empathy, or mirror neurons, or ubuntu, or whatever your belief system suggests. But know this: There is a link that joins us all. It doesn’t matter how we identify with race, or politics, or gender, or whatever. Today we are simply human. And we are all affected by Las Vegas.
 
Yesterday afternoon I was driving my eight year-old daughter home when she said something that made me wonder, so I asked: “Have you heard anything recently about Las Vegas?” She said yes, that the iPad she plays with at her mother’s house has a news app and that she saw pictures of dead people and a headline that didn’t make sense. “Daddy,” she said, “Why did that happen?” I looked at her in the rear view mirror and I told her the truth. “I don’t know, sweetheart. I’m not sure that anyone knows. What I do know is that there are ways we can be safer and hopefully stop it from happening again.”

I wonder whether our leaders have what it takes to make those changes. Even a superficial glance at our laws, culture and behavior — have a look at these charts, for instance — prove beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt that, when it comes to guns, the United States of America is out of its mind. Some people can’t even take things like this seriously anymore so they resort to coping through humor (which in this case is explicit, so please don’t click the link if you’re sensitive to profanity).

Whether I can change anything or not, I can’t afford to stop trying. My daughter, my students, and all the young people in this country deserve better. We have to do a better job of valuing what’s good for Americans (think healthcare, clean drinking water, freedom from police brutality and deportation, access to the Internet, and about 500 other things). We have to force the politicians who work for us to enact and enforce laws that support our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of not being shot.

For some strange reason, we Americans admire figures who stubbornly refuse to change their minds in the face of all reasonable evidence. “Good for you, man,” we say, “Way to stick to your guns.”

Learning is nothing if we don’t change our minds. New information adds neuronal pathways that didn’t previously exist — when you learn a new idea or a new skill, you change the shape of your brain. You literally change your mind. Deliberately resisting this is self-destructive.

I want my daughter — and you, dear reader — to grow to a ripe old age in a society where you can go out to a concert without getting your brains blown all over the sidewalk.

Maybe it’s finally time for us to reconsider whether we should stick to our guns.

(Also published on Medium.)

39 comments:

  1. I think that we the people should do something about this ,to prevent it from happening again .peoples life matters and it affects their relatives if they died.Gun is never solution.

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  2. It's interesting to see how an event like this can bring people together for a short period of time. Sure, we are all sorry it happened and it really sucks, even if we don't know anyone personally affected by the shooting... but why can't America always be this united? How long will it be before we push this event to the side? And more importantly, how many more mass shootings need to happen before things begin to change for the better?

    Another big issue, in my eyes, is how the media is viewing the shooter. No one refers to this guy (I don't know his name) as a terrorist, yet the Las Vegas shooting affected over 500 innocent people. Like, what the hell? The way the media views and portrays this guy is important. If we don't see this guy as a terrorist (because that literally what he is), then change won't happen. 9/11 was a terrorist attack, right? And there was a ton of things done to prevent similar things from happening. When America and the media think of the word "terrorist", we don't think of a middle aged white guy with a gun. The shooter was a terrorist. And it's not okay to look at him as if he wasn't.

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  3. OOOHHH GIRL, THIS GOT ME HEATED. I am frustrated at America's lack of change. I am frustrated at the fact that this keeps happening, and all our president can offer is, "We're sorry this happened". That isn't what we need. We need CHANGE.

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  4. I think that what happened in Vegas isn’t the last time something like that will occur again and not because i want to be negative about this whole situation but because nothing is being done to solve this problem and it’s obvious that if nothing is done to atleast attempt to stop this nothing will be changed.

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  5. I think that stop selling guns to anyone would be a good solution. The government must do something to prevent another tragedy like this.

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  6. I feel like people knew was gonna happen and they let him because how in earth is he gonna carry 400 pounds of guns and bullets with over 36 guns and broke 2 800pound hurricane proof window and disable all security and fire alarms in a casino where there is a bunch of people and no one knew? And was in constant fire for 10 minutes without anyone stopping him? That seems like they knew what was up and they let him

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  7. Our America is slowing getting worse. Look at all these things happening this year people in my perspective people should not have that many dangerous weapons. It's true someone can pass a background check,but they can do something insane. People wanted to have the right to have guns now look what is happening. Now marihuana is legal,it makes me think what will be the lesson behind that. Instead of making América great again,it's becoming worse. As i scroll through socail media feed i see these post of the man who commited this Las Vegas crime and they say when there is a muslum terrorists they label all muslums.If its a hispanic they label all hispanics as rapist and criminals but this American man is just alone not labeling the entire ethnitity.
    I say we shall but our guns down and think what would our life be without these guns that kill.

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  8. I totally agree, I don't think taking weapons away is the solution because we still need to defend ourselves when the situation comes but I think better security and metal detectors wuold be a positive change.

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  9. This is definitely a crisis in America. I have quite a diverse family (including family friends) and a cousins stepdad is from Africa, and his mom from Australia. From their POV, America is an insane and unstable country and the problem with guns bothered them. They are right, what IS sad is that although other countries see our problems - our leaders and most Americans do not see these problems.

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  10. I totally agree, I don't think taking weapons away is the solution because we still need to defend ourselves when the situation comes but I think better security and metal detectors wuold be a positive change.

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  11. I think it is everybody's fault because instead of helping they just look and run instead of helping. I think it is the government fault too because they should stop selling and making new guns,because it could go to the wrong person and make wrong choice. Like what happen in las Vegas.

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  12. I dont think guns should be taken away. We need them for protection and I think it should be the security or police’s jobs to monitor them.

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  13. As a teenager in today's society, I have quite a bit of things to worry about, this just gave me more of a reason. I feel sorry for the friends and families who were impacted by this tragic event. I would agree that America needs to make a change. I believe that we should be able own guns due to protection reasons, but the amount should be limited.

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  14. Guns should not be taken away from people,because not all people are criminals. Some people have guns to protect their families or themselves. Violence will still continue if they get rid of guns.

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  15. I think that even thought this incident that occurred in Las Vegas, in the end we will just move along which is hard to believe, but it is true. Once an incident occurs everyone is brought together talking on the same subject but it will eventually die off. :(

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  17. I have a different perspective of all the events that have happened. I don't really think the government has even tried to do anything about the situation. I suppose that the government wants to decrease the population, maybe they don't know what may happen but they sure aren't doing anything about it. I don't know if this is all a plan but there are many rumors about the government controlling many things and this may be one of them, i think this has a lot to do with going with what you think(having an open mind) and being realistic.

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  18. I think that taking guns aways won't solve the problem, the goverment should investing in more security and guns detector and if you are to own a gun have a freaking gun license and used for your own protection don't be selling them illegally cause we can see such as a horrible event that happen in Las Vegas.
    The government should be more in involve with people who own guns so we can prevents horrible events like this.

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  19. I think that all we do is just talk about the bad things and never the good. Instead of trying to help. Taking away guns wont solve any problems because anyone uses them especially teenagers/ But having more security with guns would be even better for our community or around the world and actually feel that we are living in a safe community.

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  20. I think that all we’ve been hearing on the news is pure bull. How does a man over 60 carry over 20 semi automatic guns to the 32nd floor without being suspected? Videos clearly show their are gunshots coming from the 32nd and 12th floor. Also some people whom they interviewed said when hearing the gunshots and seeing people fall to the ground from being shot in the head , people ran to exits . But in interviews people said that there were also shooters coming in from the exits shooting people in the staff parking lot. Also there are videos of the same night in Vegas where people were getting shot at too and they were in hotels at least 3-4 blocks away from the mandalyn hotel . This just all sounds too sketchy . This isn’t the first time America hides the truth nor will it be the last . Nor is this the first shooting neither will it be the last. The president automatically started saying excuses as to why the man killed those people . Gun control is a topic in which everyone talks about how we should have stricter gun control stricter gun laws etc. But believe me at the rate this is going to “control” guns prepare to see another massacre.

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    Replies
    1. intersting... pretty sus if you ask me? also pretty sketchy how some witnesses near or in the building who said they saw something different than what the government run news outlets talked about somehow have mysteriously died. Don't you think?

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  21. I earnestly believe that taking away guns will be more helpful because NO ONE will have the right to have one. If security's and everyone carried a gun anyone can pull the trigger and cause chaos again. Taking away guns will make the country be more peaceful and safe in all areas.

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  22. i believe guns are useful for military purposes and selling guns to a unknown person is a pretty bad thing

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  23. I earnestly believe that history repeats itself. We learn from our mistakes and see the effects of it but don't actually prevent it from happening again. People were melancholy about the Las Vegas incident. Guns, whether we like it or not, won't be banned because of the amendment and because of how the government system is ran. So instead of watching in silence the tragedies occurring, it's best to do something and hope for the best.

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  24. I think that guns should only be allowed for military purposes only and not for citizens in the united stats

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  25. I think guns shouldn't just be sold that easy. I understand that people buy guns for self defense but there not always used in that way. Like the guy that shot all those people in Las Vegas he had licenses for all of his guns but that night we just went crazy and shot lots of innocent people.

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  26. I hope this essay can illumanate the way for everyone

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  27. I believe guns are useful but they should be only use for military purposes.

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  28. I think they should stop selling guns at this period of time and start selling them again when its right to use them.

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  29. I think that he wasn’t the only one plotting this idea he had to have someone help him out I think someone helped him develop his plan. What if those guns weren’t his. You think he borrowed from a friend or he actually owned them? Before selling a gun they should qualify as being mentally healthy.

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  30. To prevent the shooting happening again there should be a check up to see if anyone carries a weapon. But still any weapons shouldn't be in the hands of any civilians

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  31. I think that the event that happened in Vegas was terrible. I anticipate our government to improve the gun laws.

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  32. I personally think that the incident that occurred in Las Vegas was one of the worst, but with guns still being available, it could get worse. Then again, we may need them when the time comes, but for now, the problem surfaces with security, because why in their right minds would it be alright to let someone in a building with guns, thats just doesn't make sense to me.

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  33. I agree to this because in my point of view America has become more of a country with pure violence and more crimes happening . It doesn't exactly feel safe enough nowadays to be walking around in the world without something bad wanting to happen. I wonder if we could all just be in peace with each other , have a right state of mind and also if we all learned to accept each other as a same equal human being then there probably won't be as much crimes with violence , we wouldn't need gun's or anything , but yet sadly how our world doesn't work that way . Now it is sad for what happened in Las Vegas and I truly feel sorry for that even though I knew no one from there but like Dr.Preston said "Because of one , it happens to us all " , which is not fair at all. I'm not sure whether If there can be change from this not happening again but we could start good change in ourselves to slowly by slowly to change this world to a better place and generation. :)

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  34. I agree that we should make a change in society. I also think that the government should do something more about citizens having guns. I feel like the shooting in Las Vegas could have been prevented.

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  35. This tragedy that occurred in Las Vegas was terrible. I think that getting rid of guns wont make a difference because people can make bad things out of nothing. I agree that this society needs a change. Lots of violence has come to America and people need to make a change.

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  36. it is a pain to have this happen in our modern society. These types of event cant be anticipated so the way you react can be fatal such as the man who shielded the rain of terror that stood before his wife. Much respect for him as I would've done the same.

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  37. What this world has come up to is sad, I can’t see why people have to kill each other instead of working it out like actual adults not like children. People die all the time and there’s nothing we can do to bring then back but shooting people that’s lower than low especially shooting innocent people

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