In My Book

When it comes to gun control, we've all had our fill of invidious comparisons contrasting America unfavorably to other nations. Why, it is asked, are our statistics so alarming? Why don't we examine different systems and scan the globe for alternative policies? But the composition of our vast citizenry, our geographical size, and innumerable historical factors prompt me to wonder, "Does it really matter what they're doing in Bhutan?"

The United States is noted for its workplace slayings. Bhutan is not. Nor is Bhutan known for an overwhelming number of workplaces. Until recently, we had a low unemployment rate relative to the rest of the world and our workplaces were bustling. More employees means more employees slain. In addition, the scale of our franchises demands armed personnel. Stores in Bhutan do not have the security needs of a Gymboree in midtown Manhattan or a Toys R Us at the junction of several major highways. Unlike their counterparts in Bhutan, our abortion clinics, public libraries, and water parks cry out for protection.

Strictly speaking, it it possible to claim that we produce more violent pornography featuring gunplay than does Portugal. The reality is Portugal does not have a lucrative, multi-billion-dollar pornography industry. We do. We produce most of the world's pornography, some of which is violent. Part of our violent pornography involves firearms; the bulk of it, however, does not.

Our neighbors to the North, the Inuit, with their furry jackets and winning smiles, are often depicted as a peaceful population. But theirs is not a society of self-expression: indeed I believe they possess no word for "depression." We Americans commonly use guns to give free rein to a gamut of emotions: unhappiness, resentment, discontent, despair, distress, misery, sorrow, abandonment, seething rage, mournfulness, and dejection. It therefore makes little sense to compare a disgruntled employee in Napier, Illinois, who takes the lives of his former colleagues to his Inuit peer who is apt to remain silent inside his igloo or other ice structure even during the half-hour of daylight available to him.

Like the Inuit, we are a community of hunters. They use clubs; we rifles or (in the case of inebriated hunters) semi-automatic weaponry. However, to those who have witnessed the Inuit bludgeoning harp seal pups to death, our methods come to seem very like euthanasia.

Now our Italian friends do hunt with rifles and have fewer fatalities on their soil than we. But Italians hunt cinghiale (wild boar) and, judging by the scarcity of this dish on menus even there, aren't all that successful at it. So while there is an upside in Italy (fewer human fatalities), there is a concomitant downside (fewer wildlife fatalities).

In places of worship, the number of deaths in America again exceeds that in Italy. The reason is twofold: first, Italians have forfeited their right to bear arms in a church, synagogue, or mosque and second, the Italian churchgoing cohort is comprised primarily of elderly ladies clad in black. Most Americans felled during religious services are hardy men, middle-aged or younger.

Regrettably, American educational institutions see their share of carnage (at the elementary, secondary, and university level). Despite metal detectors, guns find their way into the classroom. There are fewer guns in Austrian classrooms (just as there are fewer guns, students, and classrooms in Austria), but it is only fair to observe that we have recently witnessed the second instance of an Austrian imprisoning family or neighbors for decades in an underground bunker. For a tiny country, this is a troubling trend.

You simply cannot liken apples to oranges. To claim that there are 29,569 fatal gunshot wounds in America each year as opposed to five in New Zealand is to ignore vital facts. The number of firearms sold in the United States each year dwarfs the figure in New Zealand. Further, care must be taken to ensure that multiple gunshot wounds aren't overcounted. If a six-year-old brings an automatic weapon to school and riddles a classmate with bullets, has that youngster been shot eighteen times? Not in my book.