Gun Control: The Latest American Issue That's Always Been an American Issue

Another high-profile [alleged] shooting...another bipartisan picket about gun control.  I think we're close to seeing around one shooting per quarter now; and if the consistent news coverage about violent crime isn't enough, hearing about lethal violence in public, or on the job, or in the classroom ensures a presence of fear.  And I'm not sure if there will ever be a numbness to these occurrences like there is to other crimes, because as long as people can buy guns the sensationalism of gun control will forever be thrust upon us.

Have you gotten caught up in it yet?  Do you believe the federal government needs to step in and better regulate firearm distribution and sales?  Are you a second amendment through and through type of person?  Do you have a hard-line stance against guns in the wrong hands?  Who do you identify as "the wrong hands" anyway?  I digress...but you have a real opinion about it I'm sure.  Because there's a chance you've been affected by gun control (or lack thereof) before it was popular to be affected by gun control.

See, if we can get away from politics and agendas for a minute, we can make sense of this entire debate.  There doesn't have to be one more mass shooting for us as voters to consider whether gun control should be a bullet point (no pun intended).  The reality is gun control should've been important in 1980 as Los Angeles County saw 335 gang related murders in one year.  Gun control should've blasted our radio and TV waves when cities like New Orleans; Gary, Indiana; Washington D.C., and Richmond, Virginia were saturated with astounding murder rates in the 1990s.  There should be a gun control office in South Side Chicago.  But we all know why none of that was or is the case.

I'm gonna go ahead and say it....gun control is the hot term because white people are getting shot.  Try to get around that if you'd like, but we all know it's true.  This isn't a new idea...rap music wasn't evil until white kids started wearing Adidas and they're baseball caps backwards.  The heroin epidemic wasn't that until suburban white kids started stealing their parents' OxyCotin.  President Ronald Regan and Oliver North's Iran-Contra Affair started the need for gun control; but it wasn't that then because the guns that needed controlling ended up in Brooklyn and South Philadelphia and St. Louis, not as gun control, but as population control.  And as if that was the intent, never did this explode to be a national discussion until middle class white teens died at Columbine High School.

What does all of this mean?  Well, gun control was and still is an issue...and I'm glad majority America has caught on to that; although it's unfortunate the circumstances that brought about the revelation.  But what it also means is that the gun control debate exposes many issues that contribute to the problem, and the majority still refuses to specifically acknowledge.  Services that work towards mental health, anger management, conflict resolution, and grief counseling go underfunded and often times lack adequate professional personnel.  Drug abuse has been totally mishandled and poverty is only nationally prevalent during campaign time in liberal circles.  We all say we want gun control, but we don't seek to control the factors that control the misuse of guns.

Look, if you get caught up in the debate, then you're out of touch with a longstanding American issue.  But that's alright.  But the next time a friendly American scene is ruined by gunfire, just remember that the American scenes you've ignored have endured that for decades.