Don’t Politicize a Tragedy — Yet
Yesterday, there was yet another horrific school shooting, this time at an elementary school in Conneticut. The fact that I can describe the shooting as yet another in a long line of shootings is appalling. Proponents of increased gun control are understandably furious that assault weapons are for sale and can be used to slaughter kindergarten children.
A common response to cries for increased gun control is to rebuke gun control’s proponents for “politicizing” a tragedy. Several days ago, Jon Stewart did an excellent segment on the hypocrisy of many who decry using tragedies to advocate for gun control. However, I actually agree that people should wait before making political statements on a tragedy. Certainly, I see why people flock to twitter in the wake of tragedy to write their 140 character plea for increased gun control. I suspect that the outcry actually does more harm than good. Advancing gun control against the powerful lobbying groups determined to block it requires careful planning, not anger. If you really want gun control, mourn in the wake of a tragedy, calm down as much as possible, and then figure out the best way to achieve it.
The article I saw spreading the most on social media sites was Adam Gopnick’s extremely eloquent plea for increased gun control. Unfortunately, the language of the article is completely counterproductive. Gun owners consider their weapons “more important than children’s lives”. The NRA is “every bit as twisted and crazy as the killers whom they defend”. Call it a hunch, but I suspect most gun owners are horrified at this tragedy. Accusing them of being accomplices is pretty rhetoric but clearly untrue. And raging at the NRA, as so many people are doing today on Facebook and Twitter, is unlikely to accomplish anything.
Advocates need to aim for common ground with gun owners. For example, banning assault weapons should be an issue most gun owners agree with – in fact, demands for assault weapons bans have already appeared on conservative blogs. Gun control proponents should seize on these ideas and plan a strategy to appeal to conservatives. The NRA is powerful, but if 80% of the country supports an assault weapons ban, it won’t be able to do much to stop it.
Advocates also need to aim for a common conversation. Right now, the American online sphere is severely divided. I fear we’ll see people on Daily Kos writing anti-gun diatribes which accomplish nothing while fox news pundits make stupid arguments and neither side communicates directly with the other. Instead, gun advocates should take their opponents arguments seriously. For example, Fox News ran a story about the role America’s cultural decline played in the shootings, discussing the effect of reality TV, Facebook, violent videogames, etc. Mike Huckabee blamed the shooting on the decline of religion in America. Personally, I disagree with both of those views. But who cares? It is critical to avoid having two separate conversations. For example, if liberals say the problem is guns and conservatives say the problem is culture, and neither side talks to each other, gun control goes nowhere.
Instead, what if gun control advocates proposed something like this: “We all want to minimize the number of deaths. So let’s launch a combined strategy involving increased gun control, mental health counseling, religious guidance, increased parental controls, or whatever.” This creates one unified conversation, and a conversation that should result in stricter gun laws. It might also result in more prayer in schools or some other liberal concessions, but if fewer children die as a result the trade will be well worth it.
Another common theme in the wake of the tragedy was the lamentation of the impossibility of gun control. After so many horrible shootings, this thinking seemed to go, if we still don’t have gun control we never will. Public sentiment is slowly turning against guns. Gun ownership has fallen to an all-time low and gun owners tend to be older. This is a generational shift. This election, generational shift powered Barack Obama, gay marriage, and marijuana legalization to victory. Why not guns as well?
If gun control advocates continue to let outrage get the better of them, instead of planning a pragmatic strategy to compromise on gun control, we will continue to see more deaths. If advocates wait a week, think about the best way to act and then start talking about guns, maybe future massacres can be prevented.