Opinion Guns,laws,denial

Some often more quiet folks argue that people in rural areas should be allowed to use guns to hunt game. In the US,hunting game is a long and historic tradition. Many families teach their sons,and increasingly their daughters,to kill game with a clean shot,during the state-proscribed hunting season,and then to prepare the carcass as food.

In the inner cities of America,guns are not used for food; they are used to kill people.

Many people in the US and across the world were saddened by the events in Aurora,Colorado,the worst mass shooting in the country so far this century. The news reports told the tragedy of those who died,the triumph of the heroes who survived. The media reports emphasised the suddenness of it all,the inexplicable tragedy; no way to have foreseen the horror.

In Aurora,as in all the many gun slaughters in recent US history,the story told is of one “nut.” The earliest broadcast reports showed a young woman declaiming that “one guy ruined it for all of us!” The media narrative requires that there be one aberration,one monster.

Or,one hero. Take,for example,the story of Rosa Parks. She is celebrated as a woman who just couldn’t take it anymore,sat down on a bus,and helped to end segregation in America. The story is that of a pioneering individual; the history books don’t explain that she was part of a larger movement that systematically protested against segregation. American history is told through the stories of fabled individuals who make their individual marks; context destroys the illusion. One brave woman,one historic deed,no need to think about systemic problems.

Even in its best moments,the US requires an individual,good or bad,to make the story real. In Aurora,the bad guy had guns and shot people because he was the bad guy. Yes,indeed,this was a bad guy. The tautology works perfectly for the one-minute sound-bite. But why was he allowed to spin sadly out of control,going from being an honours student to quitting grad school in a short arc; going from a brilliant student to someone who,in a matter of months and with no one paying attention,became a homicidal monster? There is no explanation in the media narrative: odd things happen.

Sometimes,the odd things include a guy who legally bought 6,000 rounds of ammunition and four guns,and then used them against an audience of innocent people. Stuff happens!

The Colorado massacre highlights the culture of the US in a very simple way. Individuals sometimes do odd things (like mass slaughter),but that is simply the cost of “freedom.” US culture is deeply obsessed with making guns available to all,while making sure that very few have access to mental healthcare. The media runs 24/7,over and over again,showing pictures of the bad guy,stories of the survivors,bad-guy alienation,good-folks optimism and heroism. And already I am beginning to hear the new narrative: if everyone had been armed,there wouldn’t have been such a tragedy; a good guy would have shot the bad guy,problem solved. So,we wait,until the next “inexplicable” mass tragedy.

So,guns in the US are protected freedoms. Or,not; take your own read of the Second Amendment. But one thing is certain: in the US,guns are political weapons. President Barack Obama offered words of comfort to the nation last week,without raising the sticky issue of gun control. Since I am in a “key” district,I get to have my regular TV shows preempted daily by paid programming from the National Rifle Association,explaining that my “freedom” has been taken away by “them”; “we” must “take our country back.” Apparently,if “we” are not armed at all times,“they” will take away our “freedom.”

And once in a while a random nutcase,in a manoeuvre that we are told is completely unrelated to any systemic problem in the US,just the luck of the draw,will use heavy artillery to mow down large groups of human beings.

Victoria L. Farmer is assistant professor,political science and international relations,at SUNY-Geneseo,New York