The right to bear arms? What about every child's right to life?
I had just begun to unpack after a blissful holiday in California. My British husband Chris and I had rented a quintessential beach shack, nestled in a sleepy little town, steps from the ocean... surfboards included.
Days were spent whale watching, kayaking and catching up with old friends. Paradise.
But as I wistfully put away my bathing suit, there was a breaking news bulletin on the BBC: a mass shooting in Santa Barbara, just off the UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) campus.
My heart stopped. This is where we had just been. We had driven by Isla Vista and I remember remarking how impossible it would be to concentrate with such a magnificent campus overlooking the stunning California coastline.
Santa Barbara is where my sister Seana and my nephew Spencer, who has friends at the university, live. What if he had been visiting them? Seven, so far, had been pronounced dead. I felt sick. I felt sad.
As details unfolded, my heartache turned to outrage. Yet again, a mentally disturbed (male) individual had gone on a rampage. And, like the majority of these US killing sprees, the guns were purchased legally.
In fact, between 1982 and 2012 the majority of guns used in mass killings had been legally purchased.
As an American, I can’t believe these episodes keep happening. No one needs three semi-automatic weapons. No one needs 400 rounds of ammunition. No one, it seems, but the shooter, Elliot Rodger, and certain firebrands who believe the Second Amendment should trump all.
For those who don’t know, the Second Amendment says: ‘A wellregulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.’ I am not a lawyer, but to me the operative words are ‘well-regulated’. But US gun laws are not well-regulated.
When the Second Amendment was adopted in 1791, assault weapons did not exist. Then, it took a very long time just to get one shot off, let alone 33. Thirty-three is how many rounds the high-capacity magazines of the semi-automatic Glock 34 can hold. The Glock was one of the guns used in the Santa Barbara atrocity.
I am not a pacifist. I believe in the death penalty. I have also been a victim of violent crime. The first time, at 15, I was robbed at gunpoint when working at McDonald’s. The second, on my 21st birthday, a man broke into my apartment. After a harrowing struggle, I managed to escape. After that, many friends encouraged me to get a gun. I never did.
I have fired guns on a firing range. I have also fired a Kalashnikov as a journalist in Afghanistan. Not at anyone, mind
you. I was instructed how to use it, just in case. I am not anti-gun, I simply don’t like guns. Through my husband (an avid hunter) I have been educated in UK gun culture as well as the firearms laws, which go hand in hand. And I am impressed.
There is much paperwork to fill out for potential firearms owners. Paperwork that includes forms enquiring about the potential owner’s psychological state as well as domestic situation. In fact, the potential gun owner is required to give the police access to their GP for as long as he/she has a firearms certificate.
There is a face-to-face meeting with the applicant and the storage of the guns is inspected for security and safety. The process is not easy, nor is it meant to be. Plus, there is follow-up.
According to Simon Clarke, spokesman for the UK ’s largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BAS C), a certificate is valid for five years, at which time, officials visit the gun owner’s home to conduct an interview and inspection for renewal.
Not so in the US . Access to physicians is not a requisite. No background check of any kind is required when purchasing a gun from a private seller in 33 states. Excluding private sellers is a deadly loophole. In the UK , one cannot purchase a firearm from any seller unless they have already been granted a certificate.
‘In recent times, the United Kingdom laws have been reactive,’ states Simon Clarke.
For example, semi-automatic fullbore rifles were banned in the United Kingdom in 1988 – a reaction to the Hungerford rampage. Handguns were banned in 1997, following the Dunblane school massacre.
Yes, tragically, disturbed people fall through the cracks in the UK .
Case in point, Derrick Bird and the Cumbria shootings in 2010. Bird had a shotgun certificate from 1974. In 2007, he acquired a firearms certificate. And with these two weapons, he mowed down 12 human beings. But it is unimaginable to think how many more lives would have been lost if he’d had an assault weapon.
In response to Cumbria, David Cameron said: ‘We have some of the toughest legislation in the world. You can’t legislate to stop a switch flicking in someone’s head and this sort of dreadful action taking place.’
Sad, but all too true. Bird fell through the cracks and inevitably others will as well. The US , however, has canyons, not cracks.
After the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, when 20 children (aged six and seven) and six adults were slaughtered, President Obama tried to resurrect the assault weapon ban signed into law during the Clinton administration. This was Obama’s second attempt to do so, as it expired in 2004.
In both attempts, he was fought every step of the way by the National Rifle Association and the American Tea Party, and didn’t prevail.
As I write this, the tearful, heartwrenching plea of Richard Martinez, whose son Christopher was murdered by Elliot Rodger in Isla Vista, echoes in my mind:
‘They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live?’ Christopher Martinez was 20 years old.
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, better known as ‘Joe the Plumber’, an American conservative activist and commentator, was quick to respond on his website, www.joeforamerica.com. In an open letter, addressed to the victims’ parents, he said:
‘I am sorry you lost your child. I myself have a son and daughter and the one thing I never want to go through, is what you are going through now. But: as harsh as this sounds, your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights.’
Where do we go from there? I fear that, as long as there are individuals like Joe the Plumber, we are in big trouble. On Sunday 8 June 2014, 16 days after Isla Vista, two more people went on a shooting spree in Las Vegas, Nevada. Five dead: two police, one civilian and the shooters.
The killers had covered the fallen officers with something that featured the Gadsden flag, a yellow banner with a coiled snake above the words ‘Don’t Tread On Me’. This flag is the adopted symbol of The American Tea Party. The Constitution – and its 27 Amendments – is the supreme Law of the United States. Nothing should tread on it. But surely the right to life is the most important right of all.
For more information about gun laws in the UK: www.basc.org.uk
Days were spent whale watching, kayaking and catching up with old friends. Paradise.
But as I wistfully put away my bathing suit, there was a breaking news bulletin on the BBC: a mass shooting in Santa Barbara, just off the UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) campus.
My heart stopped. This is where we had just been. We had driven by Isla Vista and I remember remarking how impossible it would be to concentrate with such a magnificent campus overlooking the stunning California coastline.
Santa Barbara is where my sister Seana and my nephew Spencer, who has friends at the university, live. What if he had been visiting them? Seven, so far, had been pronounced dead. I felt sick. I felt sad.
As details unfolded, my heartache turned to outrage. Yet again, a mentally disturbed (male) individual had gone on a rampage. And, like the majority of these US killing sprees, the guns were purchased legally.
In fact, between 1982 and 2012 the majority of guns used in mass killings had been legally purchased.
As an American, I can’t believe these episodes keep happening. No one needs three semi-automatic weapons. No one needs 400 rounds of ammunition. No one, it seems, but the shooter, Elliot Rodger, and certain firebrands who believe the Second Amendment should trump all.
For those who don’t know, the Second Amendment says: ‘A wellregulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.’ I am not a lawyer, but to me the operative words are ‘well-regulated’. But US gun laws are not well-regulated.
When the Second Amendment was adopted in 1791, assault weapons did not exist. Then, it took a very long time just to get one shot off, let alone 33. Thirty-three is how many rounds the high-capacity magazines of the semi-automatic Glock 34 can hold. The Glock was one of the guns used in the Santa Barbara atrocity.
I am not a pacifist. I believe in the death penalty. I have also been a victim of violent crime. The first time, at 15, I was robbed at gunpoint when working at McDonald’s. The second, on my 21st birthday, a man broke into my apartment. After a harrowing struggle, I managed to escape. After that, many friends encouraged me to get a gun. I never did.
I have fired guns on a firing range. I have also fired a Kalashnikov as a journalist in Afghanistan. Not at anyone, mind
you. I was instructed how to use it, just in case. I am not anti-gun, I simply don’t like guns. Through my husband (an avid hunter) I have been educated in UK gun culture as well as the firearms laws, which go hand in hand. And I am impressed.
There is much paperwork to fill out for potential firearms owners. Paperwork that includes forms enquiring about the potential owner’s psychological state as well as domestic situation. In fact, the potential gun owner is required to give the police access to their GP for as long as he/she has a firearms certificate.
There is a face-to-face meeting with the applicant and the storage of the guns is inspected for security and safety. The process is not easy, nor is it meant to be. Plus, there is follow-up.
According to Simon Clarke, spokesman for the UK ’s largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BAS C), a certificate is valid for five years, at which time, officials visit the gun owner’s home to conduct an interview and inspection for renewal.
Not so in the US . Access to physicians is not a requisite. No background check of any kind is required when purchasing a gun from a private seller in 33 states. Excluding private sellers is a deadly loophole. In the UK , one cannot purchase a firearm from any seller unless they have already been granted a certificate.
‘In recent times, the United Kingdom laws have been reactive,’ states Simon Clarke.
For example, semi-automatic fullbore rifles were banned in the United Kingdom in 1988 – a reaction to the Hungerford rampage. Handguns were banned in 1997, following the Dunblane school massacre.
Yes, tragically, disturbed people fall through the cracks in the UK .
Case in point, Derrick Bird and the Cumbria shootings in 2010. Bird had a shotgun certificate from 1974. In 2007, he acquired a firearms certificate. And with these two weapons, he mowed down 12 human beings. But it is unimaginable to think how many more lives would have been lost if he’d had an assault weapon.
In response to Cumbria, David Cameron said: ‘We have some of the toughest legislation in the world. You can’t legislate to stop a switch flicking in someone’s head and this sort of dreadful action taking place.’
Sad, but all too true. Bird fell through the cracks and inevitably others will as well. The US , however, has canyons, not cracks.
After the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, when 20 children (aged six and seven) and six adults were slaughtered, President Obama tried to resurrect the assault weapon ban signed into law during the Clinton administration. This was Obama’s second attempt to do so, as it expired in 2004.
In both attempts, he was fought every step of the way by the National Rifle Association and the American Tea Party, and didn’t prevail.
As I write this, the tearful, heartwrenching plea of Richard Martinez, whose son Christopher was murdered by Elliot Rodger in Isla Vista, echoes in my mind:
‘They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live?’ Christopher Martinez was 20 years old.
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, better known as ‘Joe the Plumber’, an American conservative activist and commentator, was quick to respond on his website, www.joeforamerica.com. In an open letter, addressed to the victims’ parents, he said:
‘I am sorry you lost your child. I myself have a son and daughter and the one thing I never want to go through, is what you are going through now. But: as harsh as this sounds, your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights.’
Where do we go from there? I fear that, as long as there are individuals like Joe the Plumber, we are in big trouble. On Sunday 8 June 2014, 16 days after Isla Vista, two more people went on a shooting spree in Las Vegas, Nevada. Five dead: two police, one civilian and the shooters.
The killers had covered the fallen officers with something that featured the Gadsden flag, a yellow banner with a coiled snake above the words ‘Don’t Tread On Me’. This flag is the adopted symbol of The American Tea Party. The Constitution – and its 27 Amendments – is the supreme Law of the United States. Nothing should tread on it. But surely the right to life is the most important right of all.
For more information about gun laws in the UK: www.basc.org.uk