A Brave Person
By Timothy P Holmberg
On January 21st, a brave person stood in the breach at a Lunar New Year celebration in Los Angeles. He wrested a gun from a deranged assailant and saved countless lives in the process. In the interviews he did days later, you can see how raw his trauma was as he recounted the incident. In that moment, he acted against the human instinct for self preservation. He will be hailed a hero, as he should be, for risking his own life. Parents in Uvalde will wish such a hero had been present when their children’s lives hung in the balance. But that contrast misses a more important realization.
He * should * not * have * had * to * be * brave.
We should not have to be brave to simply go out in public. Our children should not have to be brave to sit in a classroom. The act of attending a public event is now no longer an act of normalcy, but of near heroism in and of itself. Our country is being turned into a combat zone before our eyes. And as we continue to arm up as a nation, every slight, every misplaced and ill intended word can now lead to a lethal showdown.
This year is not even a month old, and we have already recorded more mass shootings in the US than most countries will see in the entire year. Each incident births dozens of traumas in families across this nation. And each time, our polarized politics fails to do anything significant or useful to address the swelling body count. One side will claim it’s all about mental health, the other will line up to take aim at assault styled weapons.
After much grandstanding and tearful interviews of the victims, we will wind up with either no change, or faux change. But the numbers, bodies and victims will continue to climb.
For some perspective, consider this:
Ukrainian civilian war deaths since the beginning of hostilities (less than a year)
6,919 (source)
US gun deaths 2020 (most recent statistics available)
45,222 (source)
The United States exceeds all countries except Brazil in civilian gun deaths. We also have by far the highest rate of gun ownership (almost twice the nearest nation).
Statistics can be manipulated, but they don’t lie. More guns do in fact equal more deaths.
We can also look at mental health statistics, and drug related issues, and there too, the US stands out as exceptional, though not in a good way. Clearly that too is a corollary to our misery.
In my time in the Marine Corps, as a leader of Marines, we were trained to distinguish between individual problems and unit-wide (systemic) problems. If I were to turn that eye on America, I would see red lights flashing almost every warning sign that a unit leader is supposed to look for.
That is not a political statement, it is simply reality. Truth in an otherwise truth-less world we now inhabit.
Drug issues, mental health issues, economic issues, you name it, and we have it in abundance. For those who talk of American Exceptionalism, well, here we are, just not in the way advertised. And amid these warning signs, we opened the floodgates to the vast ownership of weapons I typically used to see only in the line of duty.
When I enlisted the Marine Corps in 1990, I learned to assemble and disassemble my M-16 blindfolded. I guarantee you that although I have never touched an AR-15, I could do the same with it. It is the same weapon. Designed not just to kill, but to maim. The round is made to tumble through human flesh and organs. The weapon is supremely agile, light and little recoil to aid in aiming/re-aiming it at other humans (its only purpose).
The assailant in the Lunar New Year massacre used a MAC10, which is essentially the 9mm I qualified expert with at the Marine Corps pistol range (but with an upgraded magazine, and silencer). The M4 (replacement for the M-16) is available to almost any schmo who wants to pony up $2,200 plus money for some ammo. If you go to Sons of Liberty Gun Works’ FaceBook page, they are even kind enough to provide video instruction on how to defeat state required features to prevent rapid magazine changes.
In fact, the reality is, I can get better outfitted than almost any infantryman in the USMC going into battle apart from MARSOC (special forces). I can even get night vision optics better than most of what we’re sending to Ukraine right now, and better body armor to boot.
This is insanity!
If we are truly dealing with a mental health crisis in this country (and we are), then this kind of easy access is the last thing we should be doing.
So, where do we go from here?
Do we accept a wave of increasing violence as our “new normal”? It would seem to be hypocritical if those who campaign on issues of violent crime are also campaigning for unfettered access to military grade weaponry (and it is hypocritical). Do those who blame this on mental health issues want to pony up the money for creating an actual mental health system? (If only)
The irony here is we actually had a law that worked. It was in fact championed by a Republican who was shot by an unstable man with mental health issues. That man who was shot, was Ronald Reagan. The Bill was the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, passed in 1994, along with the Brady Bill. The latter was named for Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, who was also shot in the head, and left partially paralyzed. Other countries that enacted similar bans and saw a precipitous decline in gun deaths, most notably Australia and New Zealand.
This isn’t rocket science.
And if we really want to talk mental health, which we must, then we need a system to provide it. Private insurers will not do it. It’s a money loser, and that’s not the business they are in. Just take a look at John Oliver’s exposé, and you will see what almost any American who sought mental health services from their insurer experienced.
If you are one of those suggesting that this wave of gun violence can be solved with a magic mental health wand, it doesn’t exist. And I doubt seriously that anyone on the pro-gun side is militating at anywhere near the same level for mental health dollars as they do over the Second Amendment.
If we are going to resolve this, it will be through the bravery of people willing to admit that their chosen solution to gun violence in this country isn’t enough. Because no law, by itself, will stop this. No pill, or chat therapy session, or therapist (if you can find one) will stop this.
It will only be stopped when a broad section of the public realizes the American House is in a shambles, and we need to fix and restore every single room in it. Restored economically, legally, emotionally and morally. Not by vilifying people for their differences or scapegoating. But through listening and acting. And certainly not by pouring military grade weapons onto a society already in distress.
Timothy Holmberg served 13 years on active and reserve duty in the United States Marine Corps. He has been a staff reporter and written extensively on health and social issues.