So, I’ve always been a news junkie and now, with this election approaching, I can barely go ten minutes without checking for updates.  Generally I skip over a lot of the local-type stories.  For example, while the death of four high school cheerleaders in a firey car wreck is a nightmare for everyone involved even at a remote level, it does not actually change the daily lives of most people in this country.  My mother always says, “No news is good news,” and while I don’t subscribe to that specific belief, of course I understand what she’s saying

So when I first saw the caption, “8 year old shoots self with Uzi, dies,” I felt a little peeved at CNN.com’s supposed carelessness in turning a personal family tragedy into an eye-popping, mouse-clicking headline.  I decided, despite my judgement, to read the article.  As opposed to the pervy, voyeur feeling I usually get when I finish this sensationalist type of column, I felt instead a deep anger, and not with CNN, but over the fact that this kind of thing would ever have been allowed to occur in the first place.

The boy was with a certified instructor and “was shooting the weapon down range when the force of the weapon made it travel up and back toward his head, where he suffered the injury,” a police statement said. Police called it a “self-inflicted accidental shooting.”

Why was the eight year old boy shooting the Uzi at the gun show?  Mostly because it is “legal and fun,” which is how the Westfield’s Sportsmans Club defines its Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo that was held this past Sunday.  But what is really so much fun about shooting an automatic weapon?  And how can this be legal, when so many other things are not (ex. gay marriage)?  These are two things I’ve never really understood.

The following is the 2nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights:

• Second Amendment; Right to Keep and Bear Arms

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

That’s it.  That one little phrase is the basis for such organizations as the NRA and publications like Guns and Ammo, which both not only promote gun ownership, but also help elect politicians through fund-raising, endorsements, and propaganda.  In fact, if you watch NRA news on their website, a pundit openly blasts Obama for his statement, “I’m concerned about allowing loaded fire-arms into family oriented spaces,” as if that’s an outrageous statement to make.

This story, though perhaps not as imminent as the Presidential Election, is in no way local.  Instead, it brings to front one of the most pressing political ironies of our time and that is this: Even though the Republican Party has demonstrated a clear lack of regard for the safety of children, fighting for gun rights to an almost unlimited extent, they are still considered the family oriented party.

The GOP loves to argue that having an unlocked loaded weapon is the safest way to protect one’s family against home invasions.  Good argument, but let’s look at some statistics about gun violence and children.

• In 2005, 1,972 children and teenagers were murdered with guns, 822 committed suicide with guns, and 173 died in unintentional shootings.  Twenty-one were killed in a police intervention, and another 39 died, but the intent was not known.  A total of 3,027 young people were killed by firearms in the U.S.
• In 2005, 81% of murder victims aged 12 to 24 years old were killed with a firearm.
• Firearms are the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle accidents) for young people ages 1-19 in the U.S.
• The rate of firearm death of under 14-years-old is nearly 12 times higher in the U.S. than in 25 other industrialized countries combined.
• In one year, for every child and teenager killed by a gun, nearly six were estimated to be non-fatally wounded.
• In 2005, firearms were responsible for 17% of injury deaths for Caucasian teens ages 13-19 in the United States, 52% of deaths for African-American teens, 22% of Native American/Alaska Native teens, and 19% of Asian/Pacific Islander teens.

My problem with the pro-gun movement is not that they interpret the Second Amendment incorrectly, my problem is that they insist upon celebrating an entity which is, by nature, a machine for killing.  While responsible gun ownership is more or less a private matter (like gay marriage), public expos for automatic weapons seems a little extreme, and when children are brought into them, downright insane.  And if we examine the recent past, it becomes clear that this culture of gun-worship can never lead anywhere positive.