We Cannot Let Abortion Go the Way of Gun Laws

   

        There is a grim reality for certain areas of our political discourse. While it isn’t exactly apathy, it does result in the same thing: a collective shrug. Were you aware there were four mass shootings yesterday (June 9th)? I wasn’t. Twenty one people were injured. Families shattered, lives broken, communities traumatized. And almost nothing happens. While there are many factors that contribute to this attitude, Republican talking points are a significant part in American inaction. It is easy to see because it is seen over and over and over again: “This is not the time”, “it won’t end gun violence”, “second amendment”, “they’re coming to take your guns”, “its videogames”, “its mental health”. While this kind of rhetoric is toxically effective, it is thankfully limited to only a few issues. However, the hipper-conservative Republican Party is currently trying to spread it to their biggest liability: women’s rights.

        Mass shootings and gun-deaths in general have been occurring in the United States for a long time. While the statistical measurements have been tweaked in the past decade, there have still been many mass shootings per year for the past 20 years. While certain sections of the government have fairly high standards to describe what a mass shooting is, other organizations have a more straightforward measurement: a minimum of four victims shot (not necessarily killed) in a single incident. Using this method, there have been 4,890 mass shootings as of June 10, 2024, including 209 this year. That is more than 1 mass shooting per day where innocent Americans are killed. Clearly, there is a massive problem that is affecting tens of thousands of citizens per year on a national level. But there are very few steps taken on a federal level. While Congress passed and President Biden signed a “gun safety bill” in 2022, it does little to address the more serious epidemic facing our society.
        But this piece is not about the lack of Congressional action to address this issue, it is the apathy of voters. In the past 34 years there has only been 4 years where less than 50% of Americans have supported stricter gun laws, and “dissatisfaction” with our current gun laws has been above 50% for the past 11 years. Yet when it comes down to it, the actual issue in voter’s minds is near the bottom, gun control hovering around 2% of the most pressing issues currently. While I understand there are many problems in the world and the country, none kill tens of thousands per year. Society began to grapple with the true scope of this issue when the internet became a daily part of our lives.
        Social media began to take off in the early 2000s. In 2006 Facebook was made available to the public, and by 2010 it had 500,000,000 active users, and two years later it was 1,000,000,000. Several other social media platforms have similar trajectories of usership. While there isn’t a huge amount of data that actually tracks the number of users who get their news primarily from social media, about 36% of users got their news from Facebook in 2005, and roughly half of users sometimes or often consumed news from social media in 2020-2022. More likely than not, these systems in place have pushed out the most extreme and emotionally engaging stories to motivate their users to the platform. Which means users were seeing these mass shootings as they were happening, that is, every single day.
        Any human being can tolerate bad news or terrible emotions for so long until they start to tune it out. The data above seems to have demonstrated the American public, when asked, will say they want change. But that is generally as far as their passion will go with the issue. And so, we will have what the status quo is today: a patchwork of state laws, a solid conservative playbook to defuse any progress, and every once in a while, a horrible shooting will shake people for a week. This cannot happen in the fight to secure a woman’s right to an abortion.
        Since the conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, there has been a steady stream of horror stories. Women refused care, losing the ability to give birth in general, and even bleeding out in their bathroom after doctors turned them away for fear of prosecution. In these two years, there has begun to emerge a pattern of conservative lines against changing the laws back after it is clearly demonstrated they aren’t working as intended. With 14 states now enforcing full bans, and five more enforcing 12 weeks or less (before most women know they are pregnant), it has resulted in chaos that is causing real harm to women across the country. There is a terrible possibility this will become the new issue Americans ignore. With each new story of suffering, it will be that much less impactful. With each new legislator that shrugs their shoulders, hope will grow that much dimmer. Each election and ballot initiative has shown there is some hope there will be a backlash to those in power to do something. This is the only way our society can combat something like this, quick and decisive political action to reverse the worst impulses of a small minority before apathy sets in. Political pundits have been continually surprised at the durability of this issue and its salience to voters. Not just in the months after Roe fell, but in special elections and ballot initiatives a year or two later. And with the current Republican nominee for president seemingly endorsing and then fearfully backpedaling on states possibly monitoring women’s pregnancies shows two things: this is a possible policy in a Trump Presidency, and he is aware of how unpopular that policy is. The iron is still hot and now is the time to reestablish the rights of women.

        We have to do something, and we have the ability to do something now.  We cannot let this slip into apathy.  Go vote. 

#FitzFile