Latinos, Orlando and Gun Control
By: Andres Parra, GALEO Intern
August 18, 2016
The massacre in Orlando was a direct attack towards the LGBTQ and the United States. The majority of victims that night were Hispanic and because of that our community suffered with Orlando. This sad event is a reminder towards the easy access to guns in this country and how our community is disproportionately affected by those guns. Just in the year 2013, nearly 3.000 Latinos were killed by guns 1. Even though, as Latinos, we are less likely than blacks or whites in this country to own a gun, we are twice as likely to be a victim of a gun than whites 1, 2. It is then essential that as Latinos we become part of this life or death conversation and demand rational gun control in this country.
The second amendment of the United States guarantees the right to bear arms. This amendment was written so that the people could protect themselves against a government willing to attack its own residents. Now, contrary to what some politicians may declare, nobody is fighting to abolish this amendment. It is more a fight to place reasonable limits that help guarantee that the second amendment is not abused in such a way that it keeps harming our communities. Today, a citizen of the United States needs prove of I.D. to practice their civic right of voting but not to acquire a military weapon 3. The right of freedom of expression has limits so that a person cannot scream “fire!” in a theater and cause a panic, is it not then reasonable to place limits on gun rights?
Part of the problem is that there exists a series of myths that have led to an increase in gun sales and help to stop any law that proposes to control who is able to acquire those weapons. A prevalent separation from reality that has helped skyrocket gun sales for “self-defense” is that crimes are increasing even though we are currently experiencing a 20 year low in the national percentage of crime 4. The constant rhetoric that only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun is also false. Between the years 2000 and 2013 one shooting was stopped by an armed citizen and 21 by unarmed citizens 6. In Dallas, when five police officers were murdered the chief of police declared that the situation was complicated because so many citizens were armed 7. Apparently when the bullets are flying it is very hard for police to differentiate the bad guy with a gun from the good guy with a gun 7.
From the year 2001 to the year 2010 more than the double of people died by guns in Georgia than combatants in the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq 8. In the year 2011, as a state, we ranked third nationally in the amount of armed robberies 8. Still, in the year 2014, Georgia passed the “guns everywhere” bill. This bill allows guns in churches, schools, bars, and other public places 9. It is then not a surprise that the amount of deaths by guns in Georgia has surpassed the amount of deaths in car accidents 10, 11. The death that caused the amount of gun deaths in Georgia to surpass the amount of deaths in car accidents was that of a Latino named Sergio Martinez, .13 seconds in the start of the 2011 new year 13.
Since the 1990s the federal government has not funded research into the effect of guns in our communities. Regardless of the lack of support there are many researchers that through a series of studies have reached a logical conclusion and declare that we should not allow this to lead us into a political paralysis because you do not need a lot of research to realize that gun control could prevent deaths 14.
The amount of deaths by guns in the United States is not normal for a developed nation, but the good news is that it does not need to stay that way 10. We have to attack the ideological, mental health, and socioeconomic causes that lead American citizens to commit mass shootings, armed robbery, and suicide. Especially when 1,034 Latinos committed suicide with guns in the year 2013 1. Gun control laws are a vital part of this process to reduce the amount and mortality of not only homicides but also of suicide. We have to change laws and national sentiment towards guns. Guns are not toys, they are tools of war and should have more supervision and control so that they do not so easily fall in the wrong hands.
It can be hard for our community to involve itself in the American political system because of linguistic barriers but you have a multilingual voice, your vote. When there are local, State, or national elections demand candidates that support rational gun control.
Sources
- http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/17/despite-lower-crime-rates-support-for-gun-rights-increases/
- http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-dallas-chief-20160711-snap-story.html
- https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-study-2000-2013-1.pdf.
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-police-protests-idUSKCN0ZQ0V8
- .https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/GeorgiaGunViolence1.pdf
- .http://www.univision.com/noticias/legal-portacion-de-armas-en-lugares-publicos-de-georgia
- http://investigations.blog.ajc.com/2015/05/11/gun-deaths-up-in-georgia-45-other-states/
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/guns-deaths-car-deaths_us_56991b31e4b0ce4964242c47
- http://www.nytimes.com/es/2016/06/13/la-tasa-de-mortalidad-por-armas-en-estados-unidos-un-fenomeno-atipico-y-extremo/
- .http://specialprojects.myajc.com/point-one-three-seconds/
- http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/gun-control-laws-research/424956/
NOTE: The opinions expressed in this blog are the opinions of the author only. It is not to be assumed that the opinions are those of GALEO or the GALEO Latino Community Development Fund. For the official position on any issue for GALEO, please contact Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of GALEO at jerry@2014old.galeo.org.