Since the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. took place on Dec. 14, 2012, there have been an additional 44 reported school shootings in the United States resulting in the deaths of an additional 28 people, as reported by a joint study released by Moms Demand Action and Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Twenty-eight additional deaths. Forty-four separate shootings on school grounds. Yet, collectively, the U.S. has done little to reduce gun violence. Not a single piece of gun control legislation made it out of the Congress in 2013. The closest measure, the Manchin-Toomey-sponsored comprehensive background check legislation, was brought up in April of 2013 but was killed due to the inability of supporters to break a filibuster. The final vote on cloture (the act to end a filibuster) was 54–46. Senators from West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia all voted in favor of breaking the filibuster.
Of the 44 shootings since Dec. 14, 2012, six shootings have taken place in Florida, four in Tennessee and North Carolina, and three in Georgia and California.
Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) all voted against the most significant piece of gun legislation since the Newtown shootings, yet their states have seen the most individual shootings. Why?
I see two significant roadblocks to meaningful gun control legislation and the prevention of more shootings on school grounds. The first is the willful ignorance of the voting electorate and the second is the massive pro-gun lobby.
Elected officials in so-called “red” states are too afraid to support sensible gun control legislation. If they are Republicans, they will most likely be picked off in the primary election by a more “conservative” candidate. Democrats, who favor restrictions, will see a wave of negative ads drowning them in the general election. The ads will be sponsored by the gun lobby (or other conservative groups) and voters will permit themselves to be taken in by the argument that the federal government will confiscate law-abiding citizens’ guns. 2013 and 2014 didn’t see the introduction of any federal legislation that would result in the rounding up of firearms owned by law-abiding citizens. What, then, do the majority of Americans have to fear?
I urge all Shepherd students to ignore the talking heads of each party and to review proposed legislation. Students should also write to their members of Congress and state governor and express their own opinions about gun control. I certainly have and my request has always been for meaningful and substantive changes. Forty-four school shootings in less than a year and a half is not an acceptable precedent.
My own concern with lobbyists is an article in itself, but there is no denying the power of the pro-gun lobby. According to The Center for Responsive Politics, in the 2012 election cycle, the NRA spent nearly $20 million. While that sum includes salaries for staff, travel expenses, and the like, a large chunk was certainly spent on efforts to defeat candidates who the organization viewed as a threat to their desire for looser gun regulations.
According to the New York Daily News, the NRA alone spent $15 million against President Obama in 2012—about 75 percent of their total expenditures. Think of what $15 million could do for those in need within the U.S. The NRA spent it all for naught since President Obama was re-elected. An organization with money to burn like this will certainly put the scare into elected officials who oppose them.
Until we, as citizens, make our voices heard (loudly), Congress will refuse to take meaningful action to ensure responsible gun control legislation is passed. Another 44 school shootings will take place. Another 28 people will die. More families will lose loved ones to gun violence.
Twenty-eight dead. Forty-four shootings. All since Dec. 14, 2012.
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