Blog#110-5/27/22
WE NEED NEW STRATEGIES TO STOP GUN VIOLENCE
By
Richard Davis
Mass murder in this country will continue unabated no matter what happens next. More dead children. More grieving families. More meaningless words spoken by politicians of all viewpoints.
If we are ever going to have any hope of diminishing the level of gun violence in this country we have to stop looking to politicians as our only hope for change. Guns kill people and no matter how you twist it, mass murder would be difficult without access to automatic weapons as well as guns of any kind.
The issue is about guns. Those who don’t think so will never change their minds and we have to accept that reality if we are ever going to change anything. That means moving away from the political arena into the court of public opinion. Mass protests and demonstrations can make a difference and that is the only way we will ever slow the death rate from gun violence in this country.
I am proposing that Americans who want to see a slowing of mass murder mobilize and start by blocking entrances to plants where guns are manufactured. We can also pressure stores such as Wal-Mart and Dick’s to stop selling guns. If politicians are not willing to control the production of guns the people need to take matters into their own hands.
The gun lobby is calling the shots because gun manufacturers are paying for their work. They flood Washington with money and that is why they always get their way. Unless we figure out a way to stop that flow of money nothing will change. Cutting into the bottom line of gun manufacturers is a tactic that needs to be implemented.
According to the web site Alter Net, “New Hampshire leads the country in firearms-related jobs per capita, coming in at a stunning seven times that of Washington DC. The state also has the greatest total industry output per capita. Home to large-scale companies like Sturm, Ruger & Co., as well as smaller defense contractors, New Hampshire is peppered with gun and ammunition manufacturers. Notably, when it comes to gun ownership, New Hampshire comes in 47th in the country.”
If the people who work in these plants cannot get to work it might send a message that the American people will act even if politicians will not. Ruger Firearms is located at 411 Sunapee St. in Newport, NH. New England has a long history of political protest so New Hampshire might be a good place to start a nationwide blockade of gun manufacturers.
Bushmaster, manufacturer of a line of automatic weapons, is located at 3505 Arrowhead Dr. Carson City, NV. The following quote from the bible is on their web site: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9.” Their weapons have been responsible for many U.S. deaths. The people who use these weapons would have been less likely to kill as many people as they did if they had to use weapons other than guns. It’s that simple.
I am throwing out a challenge to all of the anti-gun violence organizations in this country to change their tactics and move away from the political arena for now and concentrate on the source of weapons. It will be a tough battle but it just might result in more getting done than has happened to date in the stale atmosphere of Washington.
We need more creative solutions to gun violence. We need different approaches to solving the problem. I don’t want to give up hope for a less violent American society, but unless we approach the problem from new perspectives mass murder will continue.
