“Guns Don’t Kill People”

In response to Saturday’s shooting in Arizona, I posted the following on Facebook:

The fact of the matter is, it would be damn near impossible to walk into a Safeway and kill six people and wound eleven others *with a knife*. Guns do kill people.

My friend Joe responded with a link to a story from last May about a Chinese man who murdered eight people, including his family and neighbors, with a knife. The circumstances are different, and the story doesn’t indicate how long it took him to commit the eight murders (my guess is much longer than the hail of bullets that took out so many in AZ), but I pushed farther.

Me: All right, Joe. How about 33 like at Virginia Tech?

Friend Suzanne responded: how about box cutting knives that brought down 4 planes and two buildings. killed way more than 33. fact is, people kill people and it doesnt matter what the tool is that they use.

I get her point (and yes, people will commit violent acts regardless of what’s in their arsenals), but I feel like it lacks nuance. First off, does anyone really think it was the box cutters that allowed 19 Islamist extremists to commit the 9/11 atrocities? I said: Box cutters didn’t bring down those planes. A lifetime of indoctrination, years of planning, and the element of surprise did.

Moreover, let’s add up all the victims of gun violence and compare it to all the victims of knife violence and 9/11 put together. I’m guessing the former will tip the balance.

Mostly, I wanted to make this point: I don’t think *nobody* should have guns, but why did this mentally unstable man have access to semi-automatics?

Jessie helped me make my argument—that it does matter what the tool is that they use: guns make it ridiculously easy for insane people to take out a lot of people at once. Eliminating them won’t eliminate people on people violence but it will drastically cut down.

Joe replied: If someone were exercising their right to carry a handgun, that dude would have been stopped sooner. God knows I NEVER leave the house without mine.

And here’s the thing about Joe. He’s a work of human bad-assery. (Seriously, insert “Shaft” soundtrack here.) He has spent his adult life learning to use weapons effectively, for work and for pleasure. He goes spearfishing, for god’s sake. That’s fishing but with a spear.

So I told him: I know, Joe. And believe me, of all the people that carry guns, you’re the guy I want to have one. But you’re, like, special-trained, secret service dude. Most people who pack are about as skillful with a gun as I am with a stove, but at least the only person I’m endangering with my cooking is me.

I really don’t believe in the elimination of guns. I don’t. But I mean, do people in Arizona have to take a driving test before they can get behind the wheel of a car? Why don’t they have to pass some sort of assessment of skills and, more importantly, mental health before they stick a Glock in their pants and go to Safeway?

What do I know though? Seriously, I don’t know. Are gun tests the answer? If not, what is?