Convergence: Signs of hope amid a troubling year of gun violence in the U.S.
According to Everytown For Gun Safety, 96 Americans are killed by guns each day. That amounts to an annual average of more than 35,000 deaths. With 2018 coming to a close, it seems little progress has been made to mitigate America’s gun violence epidemic. The Gun Violence Archive reports that as of December 9, there have been 326 mass shootings in the United States – incidents in which four or more were injured and/or killed, not including the shooter.
Throughout his political career, President Donald Trump has been an outspoken gun rights advocate. He is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment as well as the National Rifle Association, and has consistently opposed gun reform. Thus, it came as a surprise to many in Washington when the Trump administration announced on November 28 that its long-awaited federal bump stock ban would be unveiled in just a matter of days.
Bump stocks are attachments that enable semi-automatic rifles to fire faster. In the October 2017 Las Vegas massacre, the deadliest mass shooting in modern history, the gunman infamously used weapons equipped with bump stocks to murder 58 people and injure 887. The accessories allowed the shooter to fire off 90 rounds of ammunition in approximately 10 seconds.
Following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, President Trump ordered the Justice Department to issue regulations to bump stocks. Though the device was not used in the school shooting in Parkland, the tragedy rejuvenated the call for gun reform in America, largely led by the survivors themselves.
Ten months later, it appears as though the ban is finally coming. Gun reform advocates view a bump stock ban as just one of many important measures that are necessary in the effort to reduce gun violence in the U.S. The move also signals that lawmakers and the administration in Washington are breaking their cycle of inaction in the wake of countless tragedies.
“Banning bump stocks is a step in the right direction in terms of common sense gun reform,” said Kathryn Fleisher, a student at the University of Pittsburgh and a longtime gun reform advocate. “It’s a sign that American lawmakers are on the citizens’ side in closing dangerous loopholes regarding firearms.”
To advocates like Fleisher, the rest of the gun violence prevention to-do list is clear: pass universal background checks, close gun show loopholes, pass red flag laws, and ban assault weapons. The work won’t be easy, but it’s crucial, she says.
“All of this can’t happen sometime in the future,” Fleisher said. “Activists and politicians alike need to ensure it happens now. It’s literally a matter of life and death.”
Tree of Life Congregation, the site of the shooting that took the lives of 11 worshippers on October 27, is just a couple miles from the University of Pittsburgh. As a member of both the Pittsburgh and Jewish communities, Fleisher certainly felt the impacts of the deadliest anti-semitic act in American history.
“The Pittsburgh shooting was terrifying and anxiety-inducing,” she said, “but it only reinforced my desire to eliminate gun violence in the United States.”
With the Trump administration signaling that a bump stock ban is forthcoming, and with a new Congress just weeks away, change may finally be around the corner.
The locations of the mass shootings in the United States in 2018 in which at least five people were killed. These 14 shootings span eight months and nine states. (Data courtesy of the Gun Violence Archive.)
Throughout his political career, President Donald Trump has been an outspoken gun rights advocate. He is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment as well as the National Rifle Association, and has consistently opposed gun reform. Thus, it came as a surprise to many in Washington when the Trump administration announced on November 28 that its long-awaited federal bump stock ban would be unveiled in just a matter of days.
Bump stocks are attachments that enable semi-automatic rifles to fire faster. In the October 2017 Las Vegas massacre, the deadliest mass shooting in modern history, the gunman infamously used weapons equipped with bump stocks to murder 58 people and injure 887. The accessories allowed the shooter to fire off 90 rounds of ammunition in approximately 10 seconds.
Following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, President Trump ordered the Justice Department to issue regulations to bump stocks. Though the device was not used in the school shooting in Parkland, the tragedy rejuvenated the call for gun reform in America, largely led by the survivors themselves.
Ten months later, it appears as though the ban is finally coming. Gun reform advocates view a bump stock ban as just one of many important measures that are necessary in the effort to reduce gun violence in the U.S. The move also signals that lawmakers and the administration in Washington are breaking their cycle of inaction in the wake of countless tragedies.
“Banning bump stocks is a step in the right direction in terms of common sense gun reform,” said Kathryn Fleisher, a student at the University of Pittsburgh and a longtime gun reform advocate. “It’s a sign that American lawmakers are on the citizens’ side in closing dangerous loopholes regarding firearms.”
To advocates like Fleisher, the rest of the gun violence prevention to-do list is clear: pass universal background checks, close gun show loopholes, pass red flag laws, and ban assault weapons. The work won’t be easy, but it’s crucial, she says.
“All of this can’t happen sometime in the future,” Fleisher said. “Activists and politicians alike need to ensure it happens now. It’s literally a matter of life and death.”
Tree of Life Congregation, the site of the shooting that took the lives of 11 worshippers on October 27, is just a couple miles from the University of Pittsburgh. As a member of both the Pittsburgh and Jewish communities, Fleisher certainly felt the impacts of the deadliest anti-semitic act in American history.
“The Pittsburgh shooting was terrifying and anxiety-inducing,” she said, “but it only reinforced my desire to eliminate gun violence in the United States.”
With the Trump administration signaling that a bump stock ban is forthcoming, and with a new Congress just weeks away, change may finally be around the corner.
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