Three takeaways from this week’s pod:
Ex-post facto tightening of gun laws is unlikely to save many lives.
Enforcing existing laws would be a good start.
Mental health is a big part of the equation; what are we doing about that? Not enough.
Sorry for the delay in getting this to you this week. (Birthdays and graduations.) We had Jim Geraghty on for a discussion about gun control, and then had some contentious discussions… But one thing becomes clear: There is no quick fix to the gun problem. And another: There are a lot of good laws on the books that aren’t being enforced.
Because most of our national discussion around guns happens in the wake of horrifying tragedies, the temperature is high and the remedies are more often targeted at closing the barn door after the horse is out. Most guns used in the commission of a crime weren’t bought legally. Most killings aren’t being committed with so-called assault weapons. Does that mean there isn’t a legitimate discussion to be had around guns? You bet there is. But we shouldn’t lie to ourselves about why effective gun control legislation hasn’t made its way to the president’s desk… Barack Obama had a Democratic super-majority in Congress for a good chunk of time, and didn’t pass gun control legislation. Think about it.
There’s another issue here too… mental health. Psychiatrists and psychologists tell us the nation’s young people are in crisis. Covid exacerbated that crisis in myriad ways. And what are we doing about it? Precious little. It’s time for a national conversation about that.
There are strong feelings on this topic; don’t hesitate to share yours in the comments. We value your opinions.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Uvalde killings and the gun
JG: When I first saw this news, one of the things that jumped out at me was that he had apparently not one, but two variations of the AR-15 that ran anywhere, depending on where you're shopping, but generally it's at least $1,000, probably close to $1500, and in some cases can go past $2,000. And so I'm scratching my head and wondering how the heck does an 18 year old kid afford effectively up to $4,000 worth of guns and 350 rounds and he had the vest for a bulletproof vest, but not the armor plates that go inside there? Well apparently, the company that sells them has a layaway plan. So you don't need all of the money upfront. And I think there are a whole bunch of us who look at that and say, "That does not necessarily seem like the wisest policy. That sounds like a way to put guns into the hands of people who really can't afford them, but who aren't going to worry about paying them because they plan on doing something terrible and killing lots of people."
On mass shootings and background checks
JG: …the Department of Justice just earlier this year completed this massive study, and they basically said that in addition to happening with more frequency ... it's not just the media hype, it's not just media coverage. This really is happening more often. The other intriguing change has been you're seeing fewer cases of workplace violence and more cases of school violence. And as you think about it, all of us I think are old enough to remember the rather crass term going postal and this perception of postal workers were always the ones who were getting upset with work, getting a gun and coming back and shooting people and stuff like that. Thankfully, it seems like we have a little less of that. I suspect that is partially the national instant check system working. If you have a criminal background or if you have some mental health issue, it's impossible for you to legally purchase a firearm. Oh, by the way, if you lie on your application, that too is a felony. I'd really like to see president Biden come out and say, "Everyone who lies on their application for a gun should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," but maybe he doesn't want to put his son in jail.
Guns at home
JG: I should point out that DOJ reports said that most of the school shooters, I think about 70% over the last X number of years, had not purchased firearms at all and had effectively ... generally they were teenagers who had stolen their parents'. So that is an entirely separate question. In most of these cases, if you have a child in your house, I think at minimum you want to have a safety lock. I don't know if I ... because a lot of states have said, "Well, we want to pass laws making it mandatory." And the problem is a law is only as good as its enforcement. And the first question is how do you enforce it? Do you have the police coming around to people's houses checking to see if their ... the only way you're going to enforce it is after the fact, and at that point it doesn't do any good.
How do you screen for mental illness?
JG: The other thing is the common response we've seen since Uvalde and from a lot of people who I don't think are bad people, I don't think are gun grabbers, I don't think are quiet fascists or something like that, basically we need to tighten up background checks. And I always kind of say, "Okay, but what does that mean?" Because one of the things ... there were a variety of threatening messages from the Uvalde shooter on social media. Your average gun dealer is not going to go through the social media feeds of a potential buyer. Basically the idea is to take something that is not necessarily going to the criminal justice system and get that put into the criminal justice system, when he makes an online threat or when he posts pictures of himself torturing cats and stuff like that.
Raising the age limit for purchasers?
JG: [T]he other common argument we've heard since then, basically across the country it's impossible to own a handgun if you are under 21 years of age. So a lot of people looked at this 18 year old shooter and said, "Well, the answer is we should raise the age to purchase a firearm to 21." I can see the argument for that. …having two sons, and my wife likes to remind me that apparently the male brain does not fully develop until 24 or 25. …So the idea that someone is less likely to do something rash and angry and fly off the handle and do something dangerous and stupid with a gun, that they're less likely to do at age 21 than age 18.
OK, so age limits. But what about the military?
JG: So that next question is if you're in the military, are you excluded from that? Are you allowed to take your guns off base? So this would create this whole bunch of thorny questions. Apparently also one of the appeals court struck down a California law that was going to raise the age to purchase a gun to 21. New York's legislature says they want to do something similar. I don't know if that's going to pass Supreme Court muster
Let’s talk assault rifles
JG: so first of all, before I go any further, AR is not short for assault rifle. An AR-15 is not necessarily an assault rifle. ArmaLite, right? I believe is what the abbreviation is for. And the gist is that it is popular, yes, it looks like a military gun. The discussion around guns would be greatly helped if those who advocate for gun control had a little more familiarity about the terminology and what describes things. Because I have a feeling that almost every, all black two handed rifle that looks like the M-16 used by the military is what people think is an AR-15. One, that's not necessarily the case. And the second thing is that I keep hearing people saying, "Well, we need to ban automatic weapons." Automatic weapons are banned, actually.
JG: [I]n other words, automatic weapons are already off the streets, but what is an automatic weapon? An automatic weapon is you pull back the trigger and it just keeps firing. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. That is a quote unquote weapon of war … I think what it is basically comes to, and a lot of folks in the second amendment community point out, when you ask a gun control person to describe what kind of guns they find most dangerous, they tend to describe the aesthetics. They tend to describe the way it looks. And that's a really bad way of trying to regulate a firearm, because the way a gun looks very rarely as much to do with what actually the amount of damage it can do.
Deal with straw buyers
JG: if you look at gun crime, particularly in inner cities, particularly Chicago cases like that. And you look at somebody who is a convicted felon, and yet they have a gun, and they're committing a shooting, or robbing someone, or something like that. They often have the gun that they have often is not in their name. They have used what is called a straw buyer. And the straw buyer is generally someone they know who they trust, who does not have a criminal record.
JG: That's not in their name. You're prosecuting for that crime. You're prosecuting them probably for illegal possession. But now you have the question of this person who purchased a gun for a felon. That's a crime, but a lot of prosecutors don't like doing that because Kevin says they don't like the idea of putting grandmothers and innocent nephews, innocent brothers, someone who's basically not committed a violent crime you don't want to put them behind bars. I do think the reluctance to prosecute straw buyers has been a major problem here.
Enforce the background check system
JG: And the second thing that kind of comes out is National Instant Check program plug in your data, and then you send it off to the government. The government's checking this. Sometimes they check the state agencies and the state instead, but they have three days to reply. Some guns stores if they don't get a reply in three days will not sell you the gun. There are the ones that will. So there's a certain amount, not a ton. I think like a couple hundred a year of people who fill out the form, no answer is said in three days, the gun store decides to go through with the sale, legally they're allowed to do that. And then the feds finally get around to checking and saying, "Oh, this person did have a criminal record. That person is not allowed to purchase a firearm." As far as we can tell the government does not spend any time going after those people. And they've already committed a crime. Not only have they committed a crime and you know they've committed a crime, you have their home address. This has to be the easiest slam dunk for law enforcement there that there possibly could be.
The problem of releasing gun felons back into the community…
JG: I understand there's been this push towards criminal justice reform. My understanding was that was about like drug possession, and victimless crime. And this idea of, we want to give second chances to people who screwed up made bad decisions were young, were naive, didn't realize what they were getting themselves into, but once you hurt somebody, no … And if you run around and hurt some people with a gun, then yeah, I think you should probably be looking at it at prison time. So, as much as I support anti recidivism programs and other things designed to help people, who've made terrible mistakes in their life and put them on the right path in life, I do think that violent crimes is the sort of thing that should get behind bars for a long stretch.
Red flag laws
JG: [T]here are 19 states that have enacted these red flag laws. And so the idea is somebody goes to the police and says, my ex-husband's going nuts, or something that represent they go to a judge, the judge concurs, and they say, you know what? Because we think this person is a threat to themselves or a threat to others were taking away their firearms. Cops show up to the door, they have the warrant, they go, they take the guns. And as far as the government is concerned, our job is done. There's no mandatory counseling. There's no mandatory mental health evaluation. That person is still capable of taking a kitchen knife and stabbing someone. That person is still capable of taking a car, and running someone down. In other words, nothing's been done about the potential violent impulse to harm others. All we've done is take away the gun. Now, is a gun the easiest way to kill lots of people? Yeah. Right. Are we really concerned about gun violence after an event like you Uvalde? Absolutely. But I think most of us would agree. The job is at best half done when you take away the firearms from somebody dangerous, but leave them with that murderous impulse, or scary impulse or violent outbursts or something like that.
Teen mental health
JG: So I'd like to give every teenager, every kid in America a recognition that, whatever is bedeviling you, whatever is causing you these problems at age 15, 16, 17, 18, kiddo, life goes on and you're going to be okay. At some point, probably by the time you break into the twenties, life will be something. You'll find some great love of your life. You'll find some great job, something in college. Ideally, if you go to college, will inspire you or trade school. Something's going to come along that's going to make your life feel like it's worth living. And that idea of lashing out and trying to kill all your classmates will seem like the crazy idea it is. How do we get that message into teenager's heads? I don't know.
Full transcript right here.
SHOWNOTES
Just What Happened in Uvalde? (Jim Geraghty, May 27, 2022, National Review)
Onlookers urged police to charge into Texas school (Bleiberg, Vertuno and Spagat, June 3, 2022, Associated Press)
As Biden and lawmakers debate, US Supreme Court poised to expand gun rights (Andrew Chung, June 2, 2022, Reuters)
Supreme Court may soon expand gun rights amid roiling debate (John Kruzel, May 30, 2022, The Hill)
Bipartisan group of US senators push for compromise on gun control legislation (June 1, 2022, The Guardian)
The NRA is Stumbling, but Gun Control Bills Still Aren’t Advancing (Jim Geraghty, May 27, 2022, National Review)
More than 4,000 Salesforce employees have signed an open letter demanding the company cut ties with the NRA (Weilun Soon, June 1, 2022, Business Insider)
The NRA isn’t the main obstacle in US gun politics anymore (Nicole Hemmer, May 30, 2022, CNN)
The NRA has weakened. But gun rights drive the GOP more than ever. (Arnsdorf and Leonnig, May 26, 2022, Washington Post)
Stop Lying about the Historical Understanding of Gun Rights (Charles Cooke, June 1,2022, National Review)
What Might Actually Help Stop Mass Shootings (Jim Geraghty, May 31, 2022, National Review)
In Britain, it took just one school shooting to pass major gun control (Ari Shapiro, June 1, 2022, NPR)
Schrodinger’s Serial Killers (Jonah Goldberg, May 27, 2022, The Dispatch)
Canada Now Talks About Us Like We’re the Meth Lab Downstairs (Charles Pierce, June 1, 2022, Esquire)
Again, another outstanding podcast and the best one I've heard (or via Substack, read) on the gun violence issue since Uvalde if not before. Kevin Williamson's work has also been outstanding, especially his noting that some 94% of mental hospitals have closed in recent decades, mostly since the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." We're still flying over the cuckoo's nest. And his comments on Columbine's killers (1999) spurring copy cats is underreported along with the media's (I'm a former newspaper editor and reporter) own culpability for how they report such crimes (they're getting better, but most are still doing it wrong).