Guns, Our Children and the Declaration of Independence
Insanity, someone remarked, is doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result. By that definition, the reaction thus far to the carnage in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas is insane. We’ve seen it before – after Columbine, after Virginia Tech, after Sandy Hook, after Marjorie Stoneman Douglas. Calls for stricter laws on firearms are met with calls to defend the right to bear arms. Any impetus for change soon dissipates into the same, insane status quo.
This is not an anti-gun post, though some will readily dismiss it as such. This is instead an argument to be more careful about how we think about the problem. Do I have an ax to grind? Yes. The Declaration of Independence proclaims our right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” That right was torn from 19 children and two teachers last week.
Our conversation about guns is mired in at least seven thinking traps - roadblocks for all sides of this issue.
1. The Framing Trap: The solution to any problem depends on how you frame it. A common frame is “lax security” - thus the need to harden schools. This frame is a defensive not an offensive approach. We assume shooters will show up at schools and we need to defend those inside. This frame, as we saw in Uvalde, doesn’t keep a shooter from purchasing heavy weapons and finding a way to overcome school security. Even if it sometimes works, this frame argues we’d have to harden, with armed force, every grocery store, business, church, synagogue, entertainment venue, university building and big box store, all the site of mass shootings. There is nothing wrong, of course, with talking about increasing school security – unless it’s the only way we frame the problem.
2. The Single-Cause Trap: Many cite mental illness (another frame) as the primary cause of mass shootings, but complex problems rarely have single causes. The absence of universal background checks, red flag laws, age restrictions on purchasing guns, controls on certain types and modifications and sufficient security for vulnerable venues, social groups and media that foster hate and violence, irresponsible parenting, popular culture celebrating gun violence - the list goes on – also contribute. The single-cause trap stops, rather than encourages, robust thinking and solutions. It comforts us that we have done all we need to do.
3. The Either-Or Trap: Either protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights or take their guns away. Either expand background checks or keep the government out of our private lives. When it’s “either-or,” people dig in and defend positions, often assuming moral superiority. Thinking and compromise become impossible.
4. The Simplistic Solution Trap: A proposed solution must first survive a scenario test. Arming teachers is a good example. Presumably we wouldn’t want the teacher to wear a loaded weapon every day, so it would need to be in a locked container in the classroom. She would need to grab the key, unlock the container, retrieve the weapon and fire at the intruder, all before he fired. If that seems unlikely, welcome to the simplistic solution trap.
5. The Slippery Slope Trap: “Once they pass a gun law, the government will confiscate all your guns.” That’s the slippery slope – the belief that one step in an undesired direction leads inevitably to a cascade of future unwanted steps. This way of thinking is attractive and faulty. There was an assault weapons ban from 1994 – 2004, but the government did not take away everyone’s guns. Gun sales are as robust as ever. In fact, no president has suggested taking away responsible Americans’ rights to own legally purchased firearms.
6. The Argument by Anecdote Trap: “New York has strict gun laws but a shooter killed ten at the Tops market anyway” uses a single incident to argue a general point – in this case that new gun laws won’t make a difference. Public policy should be made by scientific evidence; a single story is not science. With the availability of information via social media and the Internet, it’s not hard to find a story to make any case, but then we argue by competing stories and get nowhere.
7. The Moral Cleansing Trap: After each mass shooting, many opponents of stricter gun measures offer “thoughts and prayers” and attend vigils. They express openness to “reasonable” change. In most cases these are heartfelt responses. They can also psychologically cleanse the moral conscience, confirming “I’m a good person” and easing the feeling that more could be done. You know politicians have fallen into this trap when they make hopeful promises but never follow up.
Every gun death leaves shattered lives behind. As Independence Day nears, we must recall the Declaration’s promise, especially for children – those we lost and those we still get to hug each day. “The most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit,” psychologist Erik Ericson said. Children in America may now worry if they will be next. That’s unforgiveable. A society that can’t protect its youngest has failed them – and all of our futures.
Photo Credit: bexarbrief.com
