Shooters in Fort Myers, Florida opened fire on a crowd of teenage club-goers who were exiting a party to go home early in the morning on July 25. Two teenagers, 14 and 18 years of age, were killed while more than 15 were injured. This mass shooting occurred barely three days after an 18-year-old boy opened fire with a handgun at a mall in Munich, Germany, killing nine and injuring several others.
Neither of the two incidences was considered an act of government-defined terrorism — that is, neither of the shootings seems to have been motivated by connections to the Islamic State group. Although, it’s only a matter of time before someone digs up some obscure connection to have somewhere to place the blame.
Surprisingly, since the attack in Munich, gun rights advocates have been quiet about the uselessness of gun control around the world. Gun control advocates often use Germany as an example due to its strict laws restricting the availability of guns to civilians. German officials not used to seeing such high levels of violence consider these gun laws to be still too loose.
Germany’s policies on possession of firearms, while restrictive, do not completely cut off citizens. Citizens must get a thoroughly approved permit to even purchase a weapon, let alone use it. Anyone looking to get a permit must meet a number of strict requirements, such as an age minimum, trustworthiness, personal adequacy, expert knowledge and necessity for the weapon. With the permit, citizens are only allowed to purchase handguns or semi-automatic hunting rifles. Absolutely no military-grade weapons are available to the public, even if one has a license.
Gun control legislation proposed by the United States government is nowhere near as restrictive as the laws Germany has in place. The similarities begin and end with the requirement of a permit issued after a thorough background check. The goal of gun control legislation is to bring down the number of mass shootings committed with military-grade weapons in America. The ease of access that citizens have to assault weapons is astounding and leads to far deadlier massacres than any other developed Western country has seen.
It’s appalling to see the apathy of the American people in response to another mass shooting that, although perhaps not avoidable, could at least have been less deadly with adequate regulations in place. Moreover, loose gun restrictions perpetuate a more relaxed attitude about violence in general. A vicious cycle of mass shootings met with apathy emerges, making it seem OK to commit more deadly acts of violence.
Although government and GOP officials have been relatively quiet about the attacks in Germany or Florida, or about gun rights, the fact is that there is an opportunity to take one single isolated act of violence and blow it out of proportion for pro-gun politicians to use as an example against gun control legislation. If and when this happens, it is imperative to remember that this is a single incident, committed not with assault rifles or machine guns, but rather a semi-automatic handgun.
Germany had just one mass shooting occur in the past year, while the United States has experienced 259 mass shootings since the start of 2016, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker. Much of the lack of gun violence in Germany can be attributed to cultural differences. Unlike Americans, who have a culture built upon and steeped in violence, whether it’s on TV, in video games or in the streets, Germans have very little in the way of violent culture. Moreover, America is built on a foundation of gun ownership, which has led to an obsession with the right to protect oneself under the cover of the Second Amendment.
One devastating mass shooting in Germany is a horrific anomaly, and German legislators are already calling for stricter guidelines for gun ownership. The 259th mass shooting in America was met with barely a blinked eye, and absolutely no action on the part of our government to change gun ownership legislation or the culture surrounding gun violence in our country.
