I Hate It All

Numbers don't lie: hand guns kill people.

There’s no question that the shooting deaths of 33 people at Virginia Tech University were a horrible tragedy. So many lives, so many of them young, snuffed out in another senseless killing — the kind of event that only seems to happen in the United States. Every last one of the people shot to death died because they were shot with a hand gun, a Glock 9mm semi-automatic.

But as horrific and awful was the event in Blacksburg, Va. on April 16, every single month about 30 people die in the the city of Philadelphia — most killed by hand guns. In New York, the numbers are worse, with nearly 50 people dying every month. And while the media focuses on the tragic deaths of students and faculty, every day, every week, every month similar carnage continues in our cities and even in suburbia.

According to the Violence Policy Center, since 1962 650,000 people have been killed, intentionally or unintentionally by hand guns. Evidently, despite the maxim, guns do kill people. And even that doesn’t tell the story — in a seven-year period between 1990 and 1997, 110,000 people died from gunshot wounds. 89,000 of those came from hand guns. On average, about 80 percent of those who are shot to death in the United States are killed by hand guns. And just 1.4 percent of those killings, on average, are self-defense shootings. The other 98-plus percent of shootings are homicides, suicides and accidental deaths. In fact, someone is four times more likely to be accidently killed by a hand gun than saved from attack by one.

Those who argue in defense of hand guns and say they should continue to be legal and easily obtained, in virtually unlimited numbers don’t have a good response to numbers such as these: in 2006, 46 people died in all of England as a result of shooting (this includes all guns, including handguns which are illegal in the U.K.). In the same period, in New York, which has about 20 percent of the population of the U.K had 579 gun deaths in 2006. After falling throughout the 1990s, when more cops were on the street and hand guns faced the new Brady Bill restrictions, gun deaths are again on the rise.

Everyday, in the largest cities and smallest villages of America, we have a virtual Blacksburg Massacre each and every day. And then some. And yet, there’s no media coverage. There’s no outcry over these deaths, all too often the young and innocent.

When I ran for public office, I used to argue that I couldn’t understand why people needed to be able to buy five guns a month. I was trying to be reasonable and argue that there was a place for guns — if used responsibly. But there’s nothing reasonable about thousands of gun deaths a year. Nothing.

The facts of the matter are increasingly clear. Without guns, people don’t die. Guns kill people, quickly and far too easily.

I can’t write about this without thinking about the smirking face of the guy I ran against in 2004 for the Pennsylvania State Legislature, Rep. Stephen Barrar. He opposes any further restriction on Pennsylvania’s gun laws — and refuses to allow Philadelphia to institute its own gun control laws. He’s not alone, but he happens to be the biggest, most self-righteous ass whom I’ve fought with on this issue.

Oh, but it gets better. Barrar plans to fight a new bill in the Pennsylvania House that would require the registration of hand guns and handgun owners. The brain surgeons opposing this bill compare current gun control laws, minimal as they are, to laws passed in Nazi Germany. They are, in fact incensed that you cannot carry a concealed weapon while driving a snowmobile (not mentioning that snowmobiles often crash, which could cause guns to discharge if not safed). If your moron meter isn't fully lit, you're not paying attention.

They object to a $10 fee, the submission of a photo, social security number and fingerprinting of the owners of guns. Other than fingerprinting, the requirements aren’t dissimilar to owning and driving a car — so, fine, I'd compromise on the fingerprint thing.

They plan a press conference next week on the capitol steps in Harrisburg — if they had any guts or any real sense that what they claim in the truth, they’d hold the event in West Philadelphia. They’d talk to face-to-face to the victims of gun violence and explain why they oppose this legislation. Unfortunately, most of the sponsors of the bill have bailed, scared away from doing anything about guns. Only Angel Cruz (D-Philadelphia, the bill’s original sponsor) continues to stand by the bill.

But, like most gun nuts, they lack the guts to confront the victims of gun violence and have to hide behind a piece.

Since they don’t have guts at the end of the day, we need to start having them. We need to get guns off the street and outlaw handguns once and for all. No one wants to take people’s hunting weapons away — relatively speaking compared to handguns, they’re no more dangerous than recreational boats (which, by the way, you have to register in virtually every state in the country).

This is our country and the time has come to take it back from a tiny number of gun nuts. According to the VPC, just 10 percent of the population owns 77 percent of the guns. A tiny minority is attempting to force a tyranny of gun death on this country.

And while it is sometimes easy to forget or ignore the single gun deaths we hear about virtually everyday on the news, when something like what happened in Blacksburg does, it is a wake up call. We must act and we must act now.