The Wrongologist

What’s Wrong Today:

 

Guns are enabling tools for
killers.

 

On August 1, 1966 Charles Whitman killed 14 people and wounded 32 others
in and around the Tower of the University of Texas during a 96 minute shooting rampage.
Whitman did most of his shooting with a scoped bolt action 6mm Remington, (below) a rifle that looks and functions like a deer rifle:

 

Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster
.223, (below) the civilian equivalent of the military’s M-16. It is similar
in form and function to M-16 and he killed 26 in less than 20 minutes. 27 if
you include killing himself. Oh, and he also killed his mother, but he had killed
her earlier.

 

96 minutes vs. 20 minutes. 14 dead vs. 26: The thread that runs from
Charles Whitman to Adam Lanza includes two strands: gun technology and the tactics used to defend us from guys like
them.

Let’s start with tactics:

After Newtown, we learned that police
tactics for mass shootings, particularly in schools, have changed in the last
decade. In the past, first responders, when faced with a school shooting in progress
were told to wait for the SWAT team.

 

Apparently, enough people died
while first responders waited for SWAT to arrive, that they changed tactics:
Now, first responders are told to go right in, to walk past the wounded and try
to kill the shooter if he won’t be arrested.

 

The idea is that the sooner the shooting stops, the lower the body
count.

 

Great tactics, but a tall order for a cop who may not be as well armed
as his or her adversary.

 

Let’s talk about technology:

 

Gun owners love putting multiple shots into a target, whether it is a rusted
out car on the back 40, a hillside, or a paper target outline of a human. Therefore,
they buy the biggest magazines they can for their guns.

 

And maybe this is a chink in the NRA’s armor: The size of gun magazines and the use of automatic weapons. People
support outlawing of high capacity magazines.

 

On the left is a 90 round magazine for the AR-15.
It works in the Bushmaster too. Most police officers and mayors believe a 10 round magazine should be the
legally available standard.

 

If it was the only permissible size magazine and the shooter abides by
the law, only carrying legal magazines of the proper capacity, what’s to stop
him from carrying a satchel full of extra magazines so he can shoot all day?
Nothing.

 

But he will still have to re-load more often, and that is why the
outlawing of high capacity magazines is a practical solution, given the evolution of police tactics.

 

There is a saying: “If you’re reloading, you’re not in the
fight.”  

 

So, if a shooter has to change magazines under duress, he’s out of the
fight for a few seconds and the highway patrolman, the deputy sheriff, or the
local cop who happens to respond, will have a second or two to fire at the
shooter without risking return fire.

 

Any cop in that situation would appreciate those seconds.

 

The same applies to automatic weapons. They should be outlawed except
for military-type requirements. That means except for the military or the
police, if they are faced with automatic weapons fire.

 

Nobody has a good definition of an “assault weapon”. So let’s base
prohibitions on weapon functionality: No automatic weapons, no high capacity
magazines, no guns that have the same specifications as the military weapon.

 

Even with these rules, tragedies will still happen, but the body counts
might be lower, as the new police tactics expect. We need to give that cop an
extra few seconds to make the shooting stop. That way, some parent gets to see their child come home at the end
of the day, a child who wouldn’t without that extra time.

 

The NRA as an enabler:

 

The ‘90s weren’t
particularly good for gun manufacturers. Bankruptcy and reorganization were
rife in the industry. That was due to the fundamental flaw in the gun manufacturer’s
business model: To make the gun safe for the user, it has to be so well built that
it never needs to be replaced.

From
1980 to 2000, the gun industry failed
to keep up with population growth. The US population grew from 226. 5
million to 281.4 million, a 24 % increase. Over the same period, total domestic
small arms production fell by 33 %.  As
America grew, the gun industry was shrinking.

 

To sell more guns, the industry had to find a way to make customers want
more guns, and/or create more customers. That became the role of the NRA:

According to the Violence Policy Center, the first step was the NRA’s campaign to change state laws to allow the concealed carry of firearms;
and (2) the gun industry’s parallel aggressive marketing of concealable,
high-powered handguns.

Second was creating a demand for militarized
firearms for civilians. These are weapons in the military inventory, or
weapons based on military designs. Militarized weapons have been the industry’s
key design and marketing strategy since the 1980s.

Today, militarized
weapons: semiautomatic assault rifles, 50 caliber anti-armor sniper rifles and
armor-piercing handguns, define the US civilian gun market.

 

Finally, one of the best tactics in this situation is to scare the customers into thinking they’ll never be able to
get any more guns unless they buy now. This is the “Obama is going to
take away your guns” message that pervades the NRA’s advertising. It made 2009
and 2010 two of the best three years for sales for the gun industry since 1980.
The best year was 1981 when 5.4 million were sold.

 

Building market share for gun manufacturers has become the sole raison
d’être for the NRA. And it has worked.  

David Keene, CEO of the NRA, is receiving death threats for his role in trying
to ensure that gun owners continue to have an easy time getting the guns
they need. Who does he blame for the threats?  Mr. Obama.

Keene said:

Why is Mr. Keene afraid? He’s certainly
armed.

 

The Wrongologist asks incessantly: What kind of society do we want to
be?

 

If we want to be a better society, we must behave like a better society.
Organizations must dial back the rage. Media must report truth without rancor
or inflammatory editorializing. Individuals must be made to see that they are
part of the whole that is America.

 

We can have a 2nd Amendment and fewer mass shootings. To do
so, we have to pass laws and make deals, deals that none of us are likely to be
satisfied with at the end of the day.

 

This is the consequence of democracy.