Response to "The Talk of the Town"

Prior to reading this essay, I don't think I ever really thought about the controversial issue of gun control. Don't get me wrong--debating contentious topics with others or even with myself always provides for a fun, interesting time, but I'm usually more of a tree-hugging, Fourteenth Amendment-preaching kind o' gal. However, Adam Gopnik helped me recognize that seriously managing the accessibility of guns is just as important to keeping people protected and happy as saving the environment and allowing for equal rights are.

Not only did Gopnik's writing remind me that gun control is a litigious issue (with all the stuff people quarrel about these days, it's hard to keep track. . .), his points also facilitated my concluding that it really shouldn't be. It shouldn't be an issue because, in my opinion, it's outrageous that anyone could argue that it's okay to stay the way we are. Look at what's happened! This situation with guns has gotten way out of hand. Gopnik noted that killers in the United States have been responsible for half of the fourteen worst mass shootings in Western democracies since the 1960's. He also offered three examples of situations in which making gun laws more strict resulted in fewer shootings. How can people say that we don't need to fix anything when the death toll keeps rising AND when making alterations has already been proven effective in other places?

The only way I could see controversy about gun control being okay is if it were in regards to exactly how we're going to change it, not whether or not we should (and maybe that is what the fuss is all about. . .I'm not entirely sure. Like I said, I'm new to this topic.). Gopnik explained that the Virginia Tech shooter was "an obviously disturbed student with a history of mental illness," yet he was still permitted to buy weapons that kill. Why aren't background checks a mandatory part of gun sales (or the sale of any weaponry for that matter)? Why are these guns even available for purchase? If a person wants to hunt, they'll probably want to buy a hunting gun, so why bother selling any other kind to the public? Selling someone a gun that's meant for killing people sort of seems like asking for trouble.

Also, Gopnik brought up the point that people think that "healing" can take place without "treating"-- that immediately after something bad happens is the wrong time to talk about how it can be remedied. I found this idea to be very truthful in that it, sadly, is exactly how a good number of people react. While I understand that grieving is both difficult and necessary, I think that it's somewhat upsetting that one party's sheltered healing disables the prevention of another party's tragedy. It would be nice if more stories like the one Gopnik included about the school shooting in Quebec were made known. In that case the survivors worked together to begin a gun-control movement that eventually led to laws that reduced shooting sprees in Canada. Stories like this might help inspire those affected by misfortunes to try to turn their own negative feelings into positive changes.

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that Susan Sontag certainly managed to smother a good mood with this piece. Though I feel that her negativity may not have been the best thing for her case, she did bring up some good points. I think that it's true that the public really isn't "asked to bear much of the burden of reality." So much of what happens in the world (not just in Iraq) isn't reported to us, and whether or not that really is because American officials and the media work to keep things from us, I agree that it's wrong for a mature democracy to withhold serious information in favor of letting us know things like whether or not the painkiller Demerol really was the cause of Michael Jackson's death. Too soon? My apologies. . .

I also found Sontag's writing a little hard to understand. I am quite possibly the world's biggest fan of long sentences and even I was finding some of hers a little overwhelming. Maybe I was just having a rough day, but while I felt like her word choice was very sophisticated, I also found it a little condescending. Of course, that's not to say that Susan Sontag is not a great, reliable writer; there's absolutely nothing wrong with strong word choice. Aside from the depressing quality to her piece, Suzie did some nice work in her portion of this essay.