In this op-ed, writer and activist Adam Eli Werner explains why an organization he's proudly a part of, Gays Against Guns, believes that gun violence is like a sickness or disease.
The most common way to catch a cold is by coming into contact with a person who already has one. The same exact thing is true of gun violence. The greatest predictor of this kind of violence is a preceding violent act, and the more often someone is exposed to gun violence, the more likely they are to be victim or perpetuator of gun violence. That is literally the definition of contagion: when something produces more of itself.
I am a social media manager at Gays Against Guns, where we believe gun violence is a public health issue that can be cured if it is treated as an epidemic, a sickness, or a disease. The American Public Health Association agrees: Gun violence behaves in the exact same way as most other sicknesses or diseases. It's a public health issue.
The first step in beating a disease is to learn about it. No vaccination or cure has ever been discovered without the proper research. Studying gun violence should be a top priority for the United States government, as 33,000 people die each year as a result of gun violence, which cost the country over $229 billion in health care, emergency relief, and work loss in 2015. However, the National Rifle Association, a powerful gun-rights lobbying group, has made research effectively impossible.
In the 1990s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) helped publish studies that showed how having a gun in the home greatly increases the chance of injury or homicide. The NRA was unhappy and lobbied Congress until it voted in 1996 to forbid the CDC to spend funds “to advocate or promote gun control.”
The massacre in Las Vegas on October 1 could have been prevented. The police found 23 guns in the shooter's hotel room and another 19 in his home. In Nevada there is no limit on how many guns one can own or buy at one time; had limits been in place, perhaps the shooter would not have been able to amass a personal arsenal. Nevada also has an open carry law, which means you can literally walk down the Las Vegas strip holding a gun and the police cannot stop you — and in the state, you do not need a permit, license, or registration to purchase or own a gun. A ban on assault rifles — which the shooter reportedly used — certainly could have hampered the violence and lowered the casualty numbers.
These irresponsible laws and lack of regulation make consistent and deadly gun violence inevitable.
At Gays Against Guns, our motto is “honor them with action.” So on Monday, October 2, we put together a rally in New York City and marched two miles, from Union Square to Times Square. We started at 6:30 p.m., right in the middle of Monday rush hour traffic, so people were stopping on their way home from work to stare at us. I found myself staring right back at them. How were they not marching? Were they not outraged? I started asking people on the street to join us, yelling, “It is simple! Please come in and march with us.” A few people joined in and were met with welcome cheers and big hugs from the marchers.
Gun violence impacts everyone in the United States, so there is room for everyone in the anti-gun-violence movement. Only by treating gun violence as a public health issue will we become free of its plague in America. Here is a list of organizations and ways to get involved.
- Everytown
- Brady Campaign
- Americans for Responsible Solutions
- Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America
- Gays Against Guns
- Wear Orange
Related: What to Know About the Pro-Gun Bills Before Congress
