Aurora: "Why is this gun legal?" is just one of the questions we can ask


Wikipedia PhotographDuring the last several days, the 24-hour news stations have camped on the doorstep of Aurora, Colorado with a barrage of talking-head experts, continual replays of bulletins and camera footage from earlier news reports, much of it under the heading of "breaking news" though little of it was, at any moment, new.

While they waited for briefings and other announcements, most news anchors filled the long hours asking experts "how could this happen?" In this, they were human and in this they were doing what news anchors do.

We ask the unanswerable question, I think, because we want to set our world back on its axis with some measure of assurance that the seasons will continue to come and go without random and senseless acts of madness and chaos. The closer we are to Aurora, the street, the theater, the apartment building, the emergency rooms and the victims, the more urgent that question becomes.

We Bring our Own Views into the Potential Answers to That Question

I heard one "expert" say that being there for the victims and the victims' families is more important than trying to answer the "how could this happen?" question if an when they ask it. And, they will. He suggested that it's much better to say something, almost anything displaying compassion, than to remain mute (or absent) because we have not yet found the perfect words to match their grief and anger.

I agree with this "expert" even though our religious beliefs are very different.

Other "experts" thought the answers to "how could this happen?" question should be based on asking why violent movies, books and  video games are out there. Some said that as long as it's possible for such crimes to occur, we must make access to every theater as difficult to accomplish as bording a plane with--I suppose--as miniature version of the TSA outside every door. Personally, I don't think pointing a finger of blame at violent movies will bring us the answer any more than I think a militarized police force and Fort Knox security systems will make us safe even if we want to live in a country that sounds more like the USSR of the cold war days than the USA of our dreams.

My agenda clashes with book and movie banning (or censorship); it also clashes with many of the police and security measures put into place after 9/11. My agenda, as a conscientious objector always involves asking this: "Why is it legal for a civilian to buy a weapon intended for military use?"

Why is this Gun Legal?

The AR15 is more or less the civilian version of the military's M16 rifle. While some say this weapon should be legal only at special shooting ranges (if anywhere), it is generally legal for almost an anyone to purchase this and similar weapons throughout the United States. As a pacificist, I ask, "to what end?"

While one might argue that shooting ranges and collectors might have a reason for such a weapon, nobody can construe it as rational or necessary for either hunters or those who believe owning a gun is a reasonable personal self-defense option. Others have always argued that if such guns are banned, the criminals will have them while everyone else is "stuck with" primitive firepower. To me, that's a lame argument.

I also know that if the AR15 and similar weapons were banned and couldn't even be purchased on the black market, we would not see an end to violence, nor would we have an answer (in response to massive crimes of  violence) to "how could this happen?"

I don't have an answer. If I lived in Aurora, I hope I would have the courage to be there for the victims. If one were to ask me, "how could this happen?" I could honestly say, "I don't know." While it might not have happened if the suspect had not been able to purchase an AR15, my wont to ban such guns is my agenda, not a compassionate response to anyone in need.

I ask "why is this gun legal" and perhaps you ask "what school or health system failed ths suspect so that he ended up doing what he did?" or "Why aren't there armed police officers standing by the doors to all public places?" or "Why are violent movies legal?" or "Why don't our schools and parents focus on bringing up kids NOT to like violent movies?"

Each of us tries to understand violence by asking such questions. Sooner or later, such questions may be part of the means of finding answers. For the moment, they are more rhetorical in nature as a means of our trying to cope. It's human to ask them. It's also human to be there for the rather large group of direct and indirect victims as agenda free as we possibly an be.

--Malcolm