Wikipedia Summary of US Mass Shootings From 2018 to 9/8/23
There is a huge difference between a revolver and a semiautomatic rifle with an oversized magazine. There’s a bigger difference between a crazed zealot with a knife and a crazed zealot with an AR-15. We absolutely know that anyone in the US with even a low IQ or even mental illness who wants a gun, even a military grade assault weapon, can get one. Background checks and limitations on who can possess a gun have proven wildly ineffective.
Even allowing states to set their own gun laws does not help contain crime in neighboring states. There’s no way to stop someone buying a major firearm legal in Gary, Indiana and then driving for less than an hour and reselling it to a gangbanger in Chicago, Illinois. And anyone who believes semiautomatic assault weapons are perfectly acceptable hunting rifles in rural areas could probably be convinced that to eliminate crime in NYC, you just have to nuke it.
Indeed, the ease of buying these firearms in the United States has resulted in a massive arming of Latin American drug cartels which use money from US narcotics buyers to purchase and then smuggle literally millions of US guns of all types to points south. Realizing that there really are virtually no “lone wolves” fomenting mass shootings – they are all connected to each other and often radicalized online, at least – in sympathy with the people of Palestine and in support of Hamas’ attack on Israel, al-Qaeda and ISIS have called on their followers (particularly those purported “lone wolves”) to kill Jews and strike US and Israeli targets. These terrorists do not have to supply any weapons for attacks in the US; they are so easy to obtain.
As of November 2023, a clear majority of Americans favored an assault weapon ban and a much larger majority, including many gun owners, have expressed a desire to impose a greater level of gun control across the land. In 2008, following an effective decades-long NRA public relations effort to declare gun ownership an essential 2nd Amendment right, the US Supreme Court made precisely that ruling (Heller vs DC), the first such interpretation since that amendment was passed over two centuries ago. See my November 23rd Give It Your Best Shot? blog for more details. After Heller, the Supreme Court and lower courts following what they believed was a new mandate to support adult gun ownership, issued a spate of rulings reversing state laws limiting concealed firearms, restricting open carry laws, banning making oversized magazines or cheap technology to convert semiautomatic weapons to fully automatic and attempting to restrict where guns could be carried.
But as you can see from the above chart, gun violence, particularly mass shootings using high capacity assault weapons, has become a national disease, particularly in crowded urban environments. The battle in the courts continues, as blue states facing staggering escalations in gun violence – now the number one killer of children and teens – squared off with red states which seem to treat firearms as if they were a religious mandate. Kevin Rector, writing for the December 31st Associated Press, wrote: “[In late November], a coalition of 19 U.S. states and the District of Columbia came together to support California’s ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines.
“In a brief filed in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where a challenge to California’s law is being considered, the coalition argued that California’s ban is ‘wholly consistent’ with the 2nd Amendment and should be upheld as lawful… [In late December], 25 other states responded with their own brief arguing just the opposite. They said California’s ammunition ban was a threat to the 2nd Amendment and to individual gun owners’ right to self-defense, and should be overturned as unconstitutional.
“The dueling legal briefs showcased in clear terms something most Americans already understand from years of robust gun debates and an endless barrage of mass shootings: This is a nation deeply divided on gun policy. ‘This is a reflection of where the country is,’ said Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor who focuses on 2nd Amendment law. ‘It really highlights a political divide.’ … The briefs also showed how differently the attorneys general and other legal leaders in red and blue states are interpreting the sweeping new limits the U.S. Supreme Court placed on gun laws nationwide last year, Winkler said — with liberal leaders perceiving ample wiggle room for state gun restrictions to survive, and their conservative counterparts seeing far less.”
Amid the carnage that defines American gun ownership – with more guns than people across the country – some judges now seem to embrace a modicum of common sense. “In a recent development, the ninth US circuit court of appeals has given the green light for California's law restricting the carrying of guns in most public places to be enacted starting January 1, 2024. This decision comes after the court suspended an injunction from December 20, which had deemed the law unconstitutional.
“The law, signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2023, was slated to take effect on January 1, 2024. However, a judge's ruling in December raised constitutional concerns, prompting legal battles over the right to bear arms as protected by the second amendment… The three-judge panel issued an administrative stay, temporarily lifting the injunction until another panel within the ninth circuit can deliberate on a more extended pause, allowing further time for legal proceedings.” This three-judge panel fully expected a full nine-judge panel to review this ruling. Whatever the result, the matter is likely to go to the US Supreme Court, where the justices are themselves protected against gun violence by full-time, fully armed federal officers.
The pervasiveness of guns in this country, with the obvious resulting gun violence, has produced travel advisories for foreign tourists coming to the United States, even from many of our major allies, from nations in Europe to Australia. Common sense says we have long since passed the limits of acceptable gun violence, the worst of any nation on Earth that is not at war. The Supreme Court, with its support of voting restrictions, reversal of Roe vs Wade and this spate of pro-gun rulings has made decisions against the desires of most Americans. With questionable ethics practices of several justices and these rulings, the Supreme Court no longer generates the confidence of a majority of us.
I’m Peter Dekom, and the election of Donald Trump in 2016 reconfigured the Supreme Court into a judicial theocracy with little regard for personal rights to our own bodies or safety on our streets.
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