American exceptionalism is the idea that the Unites States is not only inherently different from other nations but that it is somehow superior, as if on a unique mission to transform the world in its image.
Heaven help us if that’s true, because the most exceptional thing about America is that it is exceptionally violent. According to The New York Times, between 1998-2019, the U.S. has had 101 mass shootings. No other country comes close. During the same time, France has had eight. In May, we had three in less than two weeks.
Our exceptional democracy has allowed the rise of an organization like the National Rifle Association to control our government by holding an entire political party for ransom. Had the NRA not bought off every Republican in Congress, we would still have an assault weapons ban that lasted for just 10 years after its passage in 1994, which was originally supported by presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
Ironically, it was the 1989 Cleveland School massacre in Stockton, Calif., that inspired the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) as a subsection of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. What short memories we have.
While the ban didn’t eliminate mass shootings, statistics show it certainly helped, but the NRA’s grip on Republicans to guarantee unrestricted access to weapons of war has every American paying the price.
The school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers hit an even deeper nerve than the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, NY., days earlier, leading San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler to announce that he intends to forgo the pregame U.S. national anthem moving forward because, “We aren’t free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children’s freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills.”
Kapler is right. Notice he's taken little flack for it, unlike the Miami Heat, which saw backlash from Sen. Marco Rubio for urging fans last Wednesday night to call their representatives to demand “commonsense gun laws,” or the countless Black athletes who have taken a knee during the national anthem to protest racism in America.
Indeed, we are neither free nor safe. Lest you think otherwise, the NRA perversely reminded everyone who’s in charge by plowing forward with its national convention in Houston on Friday, just three days after the Texas massacre – thumbing its collective nose at grieving families in Uvalde with Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz in tow.
If the organization’s glorification of guns isn’t stopped, this nation will continue to raise mass murderers, as gun manufacturer Daniel Defense brazenly recommends in a twisted May 16 ad it posted on social media showing a child around age 3 holding its assault rifle with a caption inspired from a bible verse that reads, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
(Via Twitter)
The Uvalde, Texas, school shooter used a Daniel Defense assault rifle in the attack. The gun manufacturer pulled this social media ad after the tragedy.
The NRA’s obsession with the right to bear arms above all else is a false narrative that must be obliterated.
The Second Amendment is no more absolute than the First Amendment. Just like falsely screaming fire in a crowded theater is not protected speech because it puts people in harm’s way, the public shouldn’t have access to assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines.
The creators of the Bill of Rights didn’t envision the rise of the assault weapon in 1791. At that time, they had muskets and flintlock pistols. According to The Washington Post, a “typical revolutionary-era musket” had a one-round magazine capacity and could fire only three effective rounds per minute.
You don’t need an assault weapon to protect your home from a burglar or yourself from a mugger, and you certainly don’t need one to go deer hunting. The only purpose for an assault weapon is to quickly and methodically kill a lot of people at one time and tear out their innards.
Laying blame
Now in the face of unspeakable, repeated mass murder, Republicans find every excuse to explain away America’s national shame. They won’t even talk about the slaughter in Buffalo because their own racism makes them complicit with the declared white supremacist shooter, but the Uvalde massacre has dragged out old and tired diversions – blame the open door, a lack of school security, social media, mental health and now bad policing.
It’s true that law enforcement preferred to tase and handcuff parents arguing with them to run into Robb Elementary School and save their children, rather than heed their pleas. Their disgraceful behavior should cost them their badges and careers, but the shooter didn’t know in advance he would have so much time to carry out his demonic plan.
It’s also true that the shooter threatened to rape girls and carry out school shootings on the Yubo app used by tens of millions of young people worldwide. Users reported the account to Yubo – they were ignored. The Buffalo gunman broadcast his attack in real time on the livestreaming site Twitch. It’s been shared and seen by millions since.
Social media companies are obviously impotent in the face of threats and horror on their platforms, but the unfettered access these two shooters, both 18, had to weapons like the AR-15 is the ultimate threat.
Republicans would rather terrify our children with more active-shooter drills and turn our school campuses into armed camps before standing up to the NRA and doing what they know is right: taking assault weapons off the street, full stop.
Mental health
Finally, let’s talk about mental health. Millions of people around the globe have mental health issues. Most don’t pick up a gun to murder others, but those who do sure have it easy here in the U.S.A., where you can buy an assault rifle about as easily as you can pick up a pack of gum.
(Emily Cardenas for Biscayne Times)
Emily Cardenas is the executive editor of Biscayne Times
But if Republicans are serious about addressing mental health, they can allocate serious dollars in state and federal budgets for screening and treatment. They can begin by tripling the number of social workers in middle and high schools, campaign to reduce the stigma around seeking help for mental health issues and guarantee adequate insurance coverage for treatment.
I dare Republicans to put their money where their mouth is. Like Florida Congresswoman and Senate candidate Val Demings said last week in Miami when she heard about the Uvalde school shooting, “Nothing wrong with thoughts and prayers, but faith without works is dead. Get up off your knees and do something about it.”
I’m betting Republicans won’t get up off their knees until the NRA gives them permission.
Until then, there is nothing stopping the rest of us from expressing our displeasure at the ballot box to vote every Republican out of office. They may be slaves to the NRA, but we aren’t.
Emily Cardenas is the executive editor of The Biscayne Times. She previously worked as a producer at WTXF in Philadelphia and at WSCV, WFOR and WPLG in Miami.