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Even before the identity of the shooter was known, questions were
already being asked: How did this person attain firearms? Should this
person have had the right to legally own firearms? Atrocities like the
recent shootings in Oregon, Colorado, and Wisconsin have naturally
prompted a national discussion on gun control.
There is, no doubt, good cause for concern. Since 1982, there have
been at least 61 mass murders in the U.S. involving firearms, and in most
of these cases, the guns were obtained legally. The United States ranks far
ahead of any other nation in the world in crimes of this sort. Many are
quick to point out that the U.S. also ranks highest in per-capita gun
ownership, but other nations with similar gun laws and similar levels of
gun ownership don’t seem to have such a high incidence of crimes of this
sort.
Regardless of what the gun laws are, people who want firearms can
acquire them—by illegal means if necessary. And if guns are unavailable,
other weapons can be used to wreak havoc on society. Just hours before
the shooting in Connecticut, there was a knife attack at a secondary school
in China (where private gun ownership is outlawed), where 23, including
many children, were wounded.
Is there something "wrong" with people in the United States that
makes them prone to commit these types of atrocities? Michael Moore
asked that question in Bowling for Columbine, though he failed to give an
adequate answer. However, in his later films, SICKO, and Capitalism: A
Love Story, which dealt with the health care system in the U.S., and the
capitalist system itself, he came much closer to answering that question.
So what is it that is unique about the United States? For one, we don’t
have a universal health care system to provide quality mental health
facilities. Nearly 50 million Americans are without any type of health care
whatsoever, and those that are insured often have very limited access.
Mental health care in particular is often given short-shrift, as the insurance
giants cut every corner possible to increase profits.
There are concrete reasons why the American labor movement failed
to win universal health care, chief among them, the lack of an independent
political party of the working class based on the trade unions, and the