I don’t believe in evil. When people commit horrific acts, there are always those who claim that such acts are “evil.” They are not. They are human.
I object to the use of “evil” because it’s a cop out. If I call a murderer “evil” then I am essentially denying his humanity. And I don’t mean this in a bleeding heart liberal way (although I am that, and proud). I am saying, “That person is not and can not be like me.” It’s a kind of emotional insulation. The fact is, humans do some terrible things. But it’s not because they’re possessed by some kind of evil spirit.
In a country that has more shootings in a week than some countries have in a year, we should know better than to call gun violence evil, as if we’re casting the blame away from ourselves. When someone picks up a gun and shoots someone, it’s not an isolated act of “evil.” It’s downright American at this juncture.
If gun violence is the product of evil, then there is no societal responsibility to do anything to stop it. After all, you can’t stop evil.
But you know what you can stop? The massive proliferation of guns in this country. Guns are too easy to get. Period.
JD Vance called school shootings “a fact of life” after the recent school shooting in Georgia that took the lives of two students and two teachers.
Vance has stirred up a lot of outrage with this comment. But you know what? He’s right. Mass shootings are a staple of American life. This is a crisis of our own creation. By doing so very little to stop gun violence in this country, we have decided that gun rights are the most important rights one can have. More important than life.
But, as Kamala Harris said, “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
We can change things. We have that power. Just throwing your hands up and saying, “Ah, well, another school shooting. What can you do?” Is saying that a pile of dead children in Sandy Hook or Uvalde is acceptable.
It is not acceptable.
The shooter at Apalachee High School wasn’t a manifestation of evil. He was a kid who was already on law enforcement radar for making violent threats. His father, even after a visit from authorities, bought him a gun for Christmas. His parents and school were both aware that he was having “homicidal and suicidal thoughts.” His mother called the school on the morning of the shooting warning of an “extreme emergency” about a half hour before the shooting started. School officials went looking for him, but they were too late.
It’s a domino effect of failures. But there’s only one that resulted in people being gunned down and killed. The kid’s ability to possess a gun. Without the gun, this would be a very different story. Perhaps not a story at all.
It’s. The. Guns.
The Georgia shooter reportedly had been seeking mental health treatment. And mental health is certainly a big factor when it comes to gun violence. But lawmakers who claim guns aren’t to blame and point to mental health as the problem (and, let’s be clear, most making such claims are Republican) have not provided anything concrete when it comes to policy to make mental health treatment more accessible and affordable to Americans. It’s always “thoughts and prayers.”
These same lawmakers want Americans to believe the biggest threat against children and women in this country are books and transgender people. While children and women are being shot every single day in this country, Republicans are fixated on legislating trans people out of existence and banning books they don’t like.
During a speech at the 2024 Human Rights Campaign National Dinner, Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz said of Vance’s comments, “It’s a fact of life that some people are gay. But you know what’s not a fact of life? Our children being shot dead in schools.”
The choice in November isn’t hard. If you need motivation, think of your kids. If you don’t have kids, think of the kids of your friends and family. What this country has done to these children, forcing them to have active shooter drills since preschool, is… no, not evil. It’s a deliberate choice to psychologically abuse kids instead of taking action to stop gun violence.It doesn’t have to be this way.
