Not all heroes wear uniforms

This post originally appeared in the Wilson Times May 4, 2019.

             Remember this name: Riley Howell. A college student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Howell was in his classroom Tuesday afternoon when a former student barged in and began firing his handgun at students. Instead of sitting, paralyzed by the incongruous scene in the classroom, Howell ran at the gunman, tackling him.

            Howell died for his effort. The gunman shot him, point blank, and killed him. He was 21 years old. Another student was also killed, and other students were injured.

            Howell is being lauded as someone who always wanted to help, who would always put others first, who would rather be hurt himself than to see others hurt.

            The gunman, whom I will not give the dignity of a name here, faces two murder counts and other charges. His motivation seems vague. He told police that he just went into the classroom and started shooting guys.

          There is little doubt that Tuesday’s shocking news would have been far worse without Riley Howell’s heroism. He turned what might have been a massive death scene into a tragedy that could have been far, far worse. Courageously attacking the gunman, Howell knocked him off his feet and gave law enforcement additional moments to respond to the “active shooter” alert.

            The National Rifle Association likes to say that a “good guy with a gun” is the best defense against mass shootings. How much braver is it for an unarmed hero to attack an armed maniac? Maybe what you need is a good guy or two, even without guns. Remember the brave good guys on Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001. They rammed their way into the hijacked cockpit of the airliner and disrupted a plot to crash the aircraft into the Capitol or the White House.

            Let us applaud the heroes like Riley Howell and the passengers of Flight 93. America loves heroes so much that some people call anyone with a military service record a hero, although most veterans never faced hostile fire. Those who did, who attacked a machine gun nest or risked their own lives to save comrades under fire, have earned the title of hero. So has Riley Howell. He won’t win the Congressional Medal of Honor, but he is a genuine hero who deserves recognition and memorialization.

            Shootings like the one in Charlotte or any of the dozens of others over the past few years raise the question of why do young American males, mostly white and “privileged,” feel a need to shoot someone with a gun whenever things don’t go their way. “Something went wrong, so I gotta kill a bunch of people” seems to be the twisted logic of the mass killers.

            Where does this come from? From overly permissive parents? From video games featuring gunfire and other awesome violence without consequences? From an epidemic of mental illness? From society’s cuddling of children against disappointments or failure, all in the name of “self-esteem”? From the crumbling of moral standards?

            Whatever it is, we need to study the problem, study the offenders and figure out how to prevent these horrific acts. We don’t have enough heroes to stop all the killers.

Hal Tarleton is a former editor of The Wilson Daily Times. Contact him at haltarleton@myglnc.com.

More than millions marching will be needed

A skeptic though I am, I was impressed by the numbers of marchers and the number of marches by (mostly) young people Saturday to protest school shootings and advocate for stricter gun laws. Washington, D.C., was the primary focus of the marchers, but demonstrations were held all around the country and in foreign countries as well. Collectively, it was quite impressive.

I hope the protesters were not naive enough to think that their demonstrations will bring about immediate change in the form of federal restrictions on gun purchases, types of combat-style weapons that can be sold to the general public, and various efforts to make schools safe from deranged killers.

Although the numbers on the streets Saturday were impressive, soles on the pavement rarely sway those who hold the reins of power in Washington, or in state capitals. To succeed in their goals, these youthful protesters — some of them survivors of school shootings — will have to take actions that will directly influence votes on the Senate and House floors. That means putting political careers on the block by voting out those who oppose "sensible gun laws." Or it will mean buying their own members of Congress, as the National Rifle Association has done for years. The second alternative will be more difficult because of the deep pockets of the gun lobby.

To their credit, some demonstrators carried signs reading "Vote Them Out." That slogan epitomizes the real key to effecting change in Washington. Changing the minds or removing from office a majority of 535 members of the House and the Senate is no easy task. It will require organizing in all 50 states and in all 435 House districts. It will also require finding and supporting qualified and appealing alternative candidates to run against incumbents who can't be swayed.

The road to success will be treacherous. I heard a Fox News commentator claim that the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators are "pawns" of a powerful, secret, unnamed organization that is financing and using the naive student protesters. Some Americans will believe that.

The path the change in Washington runs through the ballot box in thousands of precincts across the country. It will take millions of dollars and years of effort to shift Congress' perspective on gun regulations.

To gun loyalists who claim that cars kill more Americans than guns every year "so why not ban cars?" I remind them of some essential flaws in their analogy:
     ° Motor vehicle deaths are almost never deliberate acts. People are killed by cars in accidents, not preplanned, malicious acts.
     ° In order to operate a motor vehicle, you must have an operator's license issued by the state, certifying that you are competent to operate the vehicle and are responsible for any damage caused by your driving of the vehicle.
      ° All vehicles must be registered with the state and must meet federal regulations to ensure the vehicles are safe and cannot be easily stolen. Visible tags must be displayed so the vehicle can be easily identifiable and traced back to the owner. Unsafe vehicles can be removed from road.
      ° States require that vehicle owners have liability insurance on the vehicle that will cover the costs of any personal injury or property damage caused by the vehicle.

I suspect that Saturday's marchers would be happy if the state and federal governments would use automobile registration and regulation as a template for improving gun safety and eliminating school shootings. As for the gun lobby's canard opposing gun registration because it will lead to "confiscation," there is no proposal to "confiscate all guns." Gun ownership is not in danger. The Second Amendment as well as the Fourth would prohibit any confiscation proposal.

Another mass killing

Another day, another mass killing. Yesterday's senseless rampage in San Bernadino, California, elicited cries of "not again," and "what, another one?"

These shocking events have become commonplace. Some news outlets are reporting that this year's tally of mass murders has topped one per day. Some of these events are deliberate, terrorist attacks carried out by fanatics following some wild political or religious ideology. Others seem to have no rational explanation.

America may be the land of free, but it is also the land of the frightened. These killings are not limited to "bad neighborhoods" or big cities. They come to small towns, rural areas and "safe" places. No one is safe.

The National Rifle Association insists upon an absolutist interpretation of the Second Amendment (the "right to bear arms"), which has led to peaceful gunmen terrifying bystanders by carrying assault rifles and other firearms openly into stores, theaters and other gathering places. The NRA also insists that the "right to bear arms" cannot be limited to only the sane, mentally healthy, rational and non-violent citizens. NRA wants no background checks, no waiting periods, no limits on magazine or clip capacity, and no restrictions of any kind on firearms.

A timid Congress and a complacent judiciary has made the NRA's interpretations the law of the land, so now we count the bodies after each mass killing and resign ourselves to the gasp that nothing can be done.