Whose side are you on?
Folksinger Pete Singer popularized the song Which Side Are You On? written by Florence Reese.
Recent events – the massacre of shoppers in Buffalo, the Uvalde massacre of children, the outright refusal of Republicans to address gun reform – bring the old union song “Which side are you on?” to mind.
The song was written in the 1930s during a fierce struggle between coal miners and mine operators in Kentucky over the right of workers to form a union. The line separating the interests of the workers and those of the mine owners and their enablers (sheriff, judges, etc.) was very clear – there was no gray area.
Today, the line separating the interests of those who seek to protect children and other potential victims of mass shootings and those who support the gun manufacturers and the NRA – Republicans – is also very clear. There is no gray area.
Indeed, the question “Which side are you on?” is still relevant.
About assault rifles: Gun manufacturer ArmaLite, Inc. first developed the semi-automatic AR-15 in the late 1950s as a military rifle. [“AR” stands for ArmaLite Rifle.] Its sole purpose was to be used in war and to kill people and to do so quickly. It was not meant to be a hunting rifle or a sporting rifle. “AR-15” has come to be an umbrella term used to describe a range of semi-automatic rifles made by a variety of manufacturers.
A litany of death…
The AR-15 which has been used in countless mass killings.
AR-15 style rifles are the weapon of choice of mass murderers. Here’s a partial list of recent mass shootings involving AR-15 style rifles [Only the fatalities are listed. Scores of people were wounded.] These examples are since the 1999 Columbine, CO, school massacre that claimed the lives of 12 students and one teacher.
♦ July 20, 2012: 12 people killed in a movie theater, Aurora, Colorado …
♦ Dec. 14, 2012: 27 people killed – 20 of them children between six and seven years old – at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut …
♦ Dec. 2, 2015: 14 people killed in a County Department of Public Health training event and Christmas party, San Bernardino, California …
♦ June 12, 2016: 49 people killed in The Pulse nightclub, Orlando, Florida. …
♦ Oct. 1, 2017: 58 people killed at a concert, Las Vegas Nevada …
♦ Nov. 5, 2017: 26 people killed in church in Sutherland Springs, Texas …
♦ Feb. 14, 2018: 17 people killed at Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida …
♦ Oct. 27, 2018: 11 people killed at Tree of Life synagogue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania …
♦ Aug. 3, 2021: 20 people killed at a Wal Mart, El Paso, Texas …
♦ May 14, 2022: 10 people killed at a supermarket, Buffalo, New York …
♦ May 24, 2022: 21 people killed – 19 of them fourth graders – at Robb Elementary School, Uvalde, Texas.
Who benefits?
Children and other potential victims of mass shootings will benefit from banning assault weapons.
* Who benefits from keeping assault rifles off the streets, i.e., banning them just as hand grenades are banned because they too are designed exclusively for military purposes?
The children and other potential victims of mass shootings benefit.
* Who benefits from having assault rifles easy to obtain?
The killers and gun manufacturers benefit – gun sales increase after a mass shooting.
Whose side are you on?
* Who benefits from making it impossible for teenagers, convicted felons, domestic abusers, or deranged individuals to obtain assault rifles by having comprehensive background checks and having a 21-year-old age limit in order to purchase assault rifles?
The children and other potential victims of mass shootings benefit.
* Who benefits from having assault rifles easy to obtain?
The killers – be they murderous teenagers, convicted felons, domestic abusers, or deranged individuals – benefit.
Whose side are you on?
Congress has declined to pass significant new gun legislation even after dozens of mass shootings.
These are simple but important questions. It really does come down to: Do you stand with the children and other innocents or do you stand with the killers of children and other innocents?
Some research-based facts…
UCLA professor Christopher Poliquin, together with Harvard colleagues, has researched how gun laws change following mass shootings. He provides some research-based facts:
Congress has declined to pass significant new gun legislation even after dozens of mass shootings in spite of national opinion polls that show that there is majority support in the country for gun control policies such as expanding background checks and banning assault weapons. In October 2021, for example, 52 percent of people polled by Gallup said that they thought firearm sales laws should be made more strict. (Source 1)
Yet, mass shootings do not cause lawmakers to tighten gun restrictions. In fact, Republican state legislatures tend to pass significantly more gun laws that loosen restrictions on firearms after mass shootings. Moreover, gun sales often surge after mass shootings. (Source 1)
Congress banned assault rifles in 1994 as well as large-capacity magazines. The law expired in 2004. A 2019 study by New York University’s School of Medicine found that mass shooting deaths involving assault weapons decreased in the decade of the federal assault weapon ban, and then rose dramatically in the decade that followed, after the law had expired. (Source 2)
Gun reform aimed at protecting children and others from being gunned down by an AR-15 or similar weapon is not a matter of politics. Putting aside decency and humanity, the issue of gun reform is plain common sense. In Texas, for example, someone cannot purchase a simple handgun or a pack of cigarettes or a beer until he or she is 21 years old. Yet, an 18-year-old can purchase – no questions asked – an AR-15 killing machine. Where is the logic in that?
Spare us the nonsense and the hypocrisy…
Over the last two years, Gov Abbott has cut over $200 million from the department that oversees mental health services in Texas.
Republicans twist themselves into pretzels as they purvey hypocrisy and nonsense regarding mass shootings. Even as they eviscerate mental health services, they blame “mental health” and call for more mental health services.
The facts: in 2017, then-president Trump cut $400 million from mental health programs. Texas Governor Abbott blames “mental health” for Uvalde and says mental health services should be more available. Yet, over the last two years, he has cut over $200 million from the department that oversees mental health services in Texas. (Source 3) (Source 4) The hypocrisy is nauseating.
A Republican default piece of nonsense is that “what stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” NRA shill U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz recited that mantra in his speech to the NRA convention right after the Uvalde massacre. Cruz conveniently didn’t mention that in Buffalo, there was a good guy with a gun, but the killer went on to kill 10 innocents or that in Uvalde there were 19 good guys with guns, and they were not able to stop the carnage.
The Republicans have abandoned their boilerplate “thoughts and prayers” solution to mass murders in favor of the above and other nonsense such as having a single entrance-exit door in school buildings – which puts children in danger in case of fire and violates all fire and municipal codes.
I end as I started: The line separating the interests of those who seek to protect children and other potential victims of mass shootings and those who support the gun manufacturers and the NRA – Republicans – is very clear. There is no gray area.
Every Republican elected official and voter should be asked: “Whose side are you on – the children’s and other innocents’ or the killers of children and other innocents’?” c/s
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