RON EACHUS

‘And may all the world be armed ...’

Ron Eachus

Oh, no, not again! Yes, again, another mass shooting on a school campus and this one close to home.

And once again we confront the growing presence of guns in America and the National Rifle Association, whose answer to gun-related crimes is more guns in the hands of more people.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, Roseburg was the 45th shooting on a school campus this year. Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012, there have been 142 such shootings. Gun Violence Archive says Roseburg is the 264th mass shooting in the country this year.

These shootings overshadow other crimes and suicides related to guns as the growth in firearms outpaces the growth in population. The estimated 300 million guns in private hands today is an increase of nearly 50 percent from 1995. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report an average of 92 people died in the U.S. each day from firearm-related injuries in 2013.

Recurring tragedies like Roseburg require multiple responses. Let’s stipulate that gun control isn’t offered as “the answer,” because there is no one answer. But the NRA treats modest proposals like closing background-check loopholes, and restrictions on assault weapons and the size of ammunition magazines, as fodder for fear and a threat to the right to bears arms.

The NRA has evolved from promoting gun safety to promoting guns and gun sales. It’s gone well beyond the culture of hunting and self-defense to the hyperbole of fear and glorification of guns. Show the gun, wave the flag.

“Guns don’t kill people, people do,” the NRA exclaims. Well, “duh, Captain Obvious.”

Guns don’t just animate themselves and start shooting. Might as well say, “Cars don’t kill people… .”

“When guns are outlawed, only criminals will have guns,” they’ll say. No, background checks and licenses aren’t there to outlaw guns or to prevent law-abiding citizens from obtaining guns. Yes, some criminals will find ways to get guns, but why make it easier for them? Studies show making it harder is a deterrent.

They’ll claim that if only campuses weren’t gun-free zones and teachers were armed, these shooters could be stopped. This, of course, ignores other outcomes, such as pulling a gun and shooting back results in more chaos and a barrage of bullets leading to more carnage.

“It’s UNCONSTITUTIONAL,” they shout, as if in capital letters.

But in its landmark 2008 ruling that the Second Amendment was not confined to just militia, the Supreme Court made it clear the right to bear arms wasn’t unlimited: “the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purposes.”

No matter to the NRA. Any restriction is automatically dubbed an unconstitutional threat to liberty. And that benefits their pocketbook as well as gun manufacturers. After a tragedy like Roseburg, their stock soars on fears that it will lead to more gun control, which leads to more contributions and a rush to buy more guns.

According to the financial news website MarketWatch, NRA dues went up 62 percent after Sandy Hook and gun manufacturers saw a rise in sales. The surplus of the non-profit NRA rose to $57 million, a 2,750 percent increase.

The NRA solution to gun violence has been to make guns the American way. Available, accessible, almost a duty to have. Any restrictions are condemned.

Shootings like Roseburg are met with shock and disbelief. Every time we find little we can do except gather in mourning. While the NRA issues a call to arms, others follow a call to prayer.

In vigils and gatherings of common grief, people share the sorrow, bless those lives so viciously taken, comfort those suffering from physical and mental wounds, and renew hope for more sanity in our lives and laws,

When they reflect on the inexplicable, incomprehensible loss of lives and pray for the souls of those taken by the arsenal of a mass murderer, how many do you think ask “and please, God, let us have more guns”?

There’s a common table prayer that ends, “Blessed be God who is our bread; may all the world be clothed and fed.” I wonder how many would end it with “and may all the world be armed” instead?

Ron Eachus of Salem is a former legislator and a former chairman of the Oregon Public Utility Commission. His column appears on Tuesdays. Send email to re4869@comcast.net.

Online

Go to StatesmanJournal.com/media/latest/opinion to view “Editorial cartoons: Roseburg shooting” and “Editorial cartoons: Firearms.”