Opinion: What can you do about gun violence? Vote!
Where do we begin?
As the new chair of the Spartanburg County Democratic Party, I am penning this from a place of deep belief that this community, like many communities, wants what is best for one another.
And while we may disagree politically on some things, when it comes to protecting the people we love, 80%-90% of us agree that violence by firearms — the No. 1 cause of death in youths — would be reduced if we passed key legislation.
Just last year, all six of South Carolina’s Republican congressional representatives voted against the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which would mandate background checks before gun sales. Each one of them needs to answer why.
Ten victims — Roberta A. Drury, Margus D. Morrison, Andre Mackneil, Aaron Salter, Geraldine Talley, Celestine Chaney, Heyward Patterson, Katherine Massey, Pearl Young, and Ruth Whitfield were murdered in Buffalo, New York at Tops Supermarket. This is a hate crime.
But in South Carolina, it wouldn’t be charged as such because our legislature refused to pass the Clementa Pinckney Hate Crime Bill , making us one of only two states that doesn't have a law condemning hate crimes, even after the 2015 massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
And 21 victims - Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, Alithia Ramirez, Amerie Jo Garza, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, Eva Mireles, Eliahana Cruz Torres, Irma Garcia, Jackie Cazares Jailah Silguero, Jayce Luevanos, Jose Flores, Layla Salazar, Maite Rodriguez, Makenna Lee Elrod, Miranda Mathis, Nevaeh Bravo, Rojelio Torres, Tess Marie Mata, Uziyah Garcia, Xavier Javier Lopez, were murdered at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
And this is just the month of May, y’all.
On April 20, 1999, 12 students and an educator were gunned down at Columbine High School in Colorado, six months before I left for Spartanburg for college in New York. Since then, I have (lived) through Columbine, Sandy Hook, Aurora, Parkland, Pulse Nightclub, Charleston, and the list goes on.
In 2012, I was the marketing director for "Sesame Street" when the Sandy Hook massacre occurred, and we sent our Muppets to Connecticut (a short trip from our HQ in New York) to comfort students, educators and families. When our team on the ground came back, they were fundamentally changed.
The Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012, signed into law in January 2013, defines a mass killing as one resulting in at least three victims, excluding the perpetrator.
By the end of 2019, there were 417 mass shootings; by the end of 2020, there had been 611; and by the end of 2021, 693, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
By mid-May 2021 there were 10 mass shootings a week on average; by mid-May 2022, there had been 198 mass shootings in the first 19 weeks of the year, which represents 11 mass shootings a week.
Background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines are the bare minimum to protect everyday people from an open massacre in the event of an active shooter. They are literally the least we can do.
These pieces of legislation have been on the table but none has passed:
* A House-passed bill, HR 1446, backed by Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, would close what's known as the "Charleston loophole," which allows some licensed gun sales to go through before a required background check is done.
Specifically, this legislation would increase the amount of time, from three business days to a minimum of 10, that a federal firearms licensee must wait to receive a completed background check prior to transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person.
* Even bills with bipartisan support can't pass the Senate. Another bill, HR 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, would expand background checks for all firearm sales or transfers in the country.
These bills have failed because our elected officials are being held hostage by the gun lobby that funds their reelection campaigns. They value staying in power over saving our children’s lives, and we are in turn being held hostage by our elected officials.
If our representatives won't pass legislation that Americans resoundingly agree on, then we must remove them from office.
You have two chances to exercise that right in 2022.
Vote early through June 10 at the County Administration Building, get out the vote on June 14 for the primaries, and come back and do it again in the general election on Nov. 8. Check your precinct location at vote411.org.
Call or email your senators and representative today.
South Carolina US Senators:
Lindsey Graham, 202 224 5972
Tim Scott, 202 224 6121
US Representative, SC 4th District
William Timmons 202 225 6030
Kathryn Harvey is chair of the Spartanburg Democratic Party.
This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: To help stop gun violence, head to the polls
