I'm a committed NPR listener.
There's been, well, a lot of news lately, and many things that I've been trying to reconcile in my head. I always feel like I can turn to the radio to help me understand and make sense of the world around me.
This morning on my drive to work, there was an interview regarding the Las Vegas shooting and gun control. It was with a conservative talk show personality out of Phoenix, Chris Buskirk, and the meat of his interview with host Rachel Martin was that conservatives and liberals are not even having the same conversation on this topic.
That stopped me cold. How true.
I live in one of the most conservative states in America, and I have friends and family who are as Republican as you can get. (Of course, I have friends and family who share my liberal views and others who have very nuanced opinions. There are Libertarians and Anarchists and folks of all stripes in my circles - forgive the digression, but I just have to put out there that there are all sorts of folks in Idaho, not just conservative potato farmers.) ANYWAY, that's the absolute truth. It's not just that we're not on the same page regarding firearms - we're not even in the same book.
I feel that if it was as difficult - nationally - to get a gun as it was to get an abortion, we'd be in a much better situation. Imagine that: A 3 day waiting period to make sure that you really wanted to purchase a gun. Submitting to a psychiatric evaluation to make sure you were fit. Having to travel far from your home to find a provider. People outside the gun shop waving giant placards with photos of people who were killed by gun violence. Clearly, if the nation feels it can legislate my body, it can legislate the purchase and sale of guns.
Others, however, don't see it as an access problem, it's an issue of people being evil, and say there's no way for the government to make people less evil. Now, wait. I know, you might be thinking, "Well, yeah, but if it was harder to get a gun, evil people wouldn't have them." Yes. I agree with you, but this is not about that.
We need to do something about guns in our country, but if we're not talking about the same thing, not able to understand each other, there will never be actual actionable change. I was struck this morning by the complete opposition I felt to what Mr. Buskirk was saying, but how I felt that listening to him was revelatory. I had no idea that the other side felt that it was a people problem, not an object problem, I'd just always figured it was, "You can pry these guns out of my cold dead hands." (Don't blame me, blame the bumper stickers my state-mates are fond of.)
It's also striking too, that I haven't had this type of conversation or breakthrough with someone close to me. I guess that's because there's actual history with my friends and family. We've talked before and just come out diametrically opposed, rather than understanding each other's positions. We assume that we know what the other will say before we even start talking, and therefore plan for an exchange that we might not even have.
Perhaps we all need to listen harder. Maybe if we can have a conversation where both sides are speaking the same language about the same topic, we'll actually get somewhere.
And get there together.
Want to listen to the interview? I'd love to know what it brought to your mind.
_____
Note: I want gun control and I want action now. This CANNOT become normalized in America. If you feel the same way, please consider buying a t-shirt from my campaign below. All proceeds will go to Everytown , a group committed to common sense things like background checks and mandatory education. (If you'd rather just give money or time to Everytown, please do. But it's time for us to do something.)
There's been, well, a lot of news lately, and many things that I've been trying to reconcile in my head. I always feel like I can turn to the radio to help me understand and make sense of the world around me.
This morning on my drive to work, there was an interview regarding the Las Vegas shooting and gun control. It was with a conservative talk show personality out of Phoenix, Chris Buskirk, and the meat of his interview with host Rachel Martin was that conservatives and liberals are not even having the same conversation on this topic.
That stopped me cold. How true.
I live in one of the most conservative states in America, and I have friends and family who are as Republican as you can get. (Of course, I have friends and family who share my liberal views and others who have very nuanced opinions. There are Libertarians and Anarchists and folks of all stripes in my circles - forgive the digression, but I just have to put out there that there are all sorts of folks in Idaho, not just conservative potato farmers.) ANYWAY, that's the absolute truth. It's not just that we're not on the same page regarding firearms - we're not even in the same book.
I feel that if it was as difficult - nationally - to get a gun as it was to get an abortion, we'd be in a much better situation. Imagine that: A 3 day waiting period to make sure that you really wanted to purchase a gun. Submitting to a psychiatric evaluation to make sure you were fit. Having to travel far from your home to find a provider. People outside the gun shop waving giant placards with photos of people who were killed by gun violence. Clearly, if the nation feels it can legislate my body, it can legislate the purchase and sale of guns.
Others, however, don't see it as an access problem, it's an issue of people being evil, and say there's no way for the government to make people less evil. Now, wait. I know, you might be thinking, "Well, yeah, but if it was harder to get a gun, evil people wouldn't have them." Yes. I agree with you, but this is not about that.
We need to do something about guns in our country, but if we're not talking about the same thing, not able to understand each other, there will never be actual actionable change. I was struck this morning by the complete opposition I felt to what Mr. Buskirk was saying, but how I felt that listening to him was revelatory. I had no idea that the other side felt that it was a people problem, not an object problem, I'd just always figured it was, "You can pry these guns out of my cold dead hands." (Don't blame me, blame the bumper stickers my state-mates are fond of.)
It's also striking too, that I haven't had this type of conversation or breakthrough with someone close to me. I guess that's because there's actual history with my friends and family. We've talked before and just come out diametrically opposed, rather than understanding each other's positions. We assume that we know what the other will say before we even start talking, and therefore plan for an exchange that we might not even have.
Perhaps we all need to listen harder. Maybe if we can have a conversation where both sides are speaking the same language about the same topic, we'll actually get somewhere.
And get there together.
Want to listen to the interview? I'd love to know what it brought to your mind.
_____
Note: I want gun control and I want action now. This CANNOT become normalized in America. If you feel the same way, please consider buying a t-shirt from my campaign below. All proceeds will go to Everytown , a group committed to common sense things like background checks and mandatory education. (If you'd rather just give money or time to Everytown, please do. But it's time for us to do something.)
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