Murphy and Blumenthal, Nothing Succeeds Like Failure

In a recent editorial, the Hartford Courant notes, “U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has a well-oiled speech on the issue [of gun bans].  Considering his 14-hour filibuster after the Orlando shooting in the summer of 2016, he’s got his points together. And every time there’s another mass shooting, he drags them out again, as he did on Tuesday.” Murphy has had a good deal of practice fulminating at the U.S. Senate podium; most recently he accused his fellow legislators of being complicit in the murder of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

“This scourge of school shootings,” Murphy said, “only happens here [in the United States].  It only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. We [his fellow Senators] are responsible for a level of mass atrocities that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else.”

Neither Murphy nor the Courant editorial board likes the AR-15, an “assault weapon” according to the paper, or the National Rifle Association (NRA). And if Murphy had his druthers, he would put aside the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which provides that Congress shall make no law impeding freedom of speech or freedom of assembly, and the second amendment as well, which prevents Congress from constructing laws that inhibit the right of a free people  to bear arms in order to defend themselves from a national state that has turned its face away from such natural rights as free assembly and the right of self-defense – the NRA is, after all,  a lawful assembly – so as to allow Murphy and a few editorial boards to restrict lawful gun ownership.

In fact, Murphy MUST override these two amendments to accomplish his purpose, a high hill to climb. Sisyphus fails in toting his rock up the steep hill, but he gains immortality or fame, the only after-life of people who do believe in the eternal verities. In politics, nothing is as successful as waging a losing battle. This is true for two reasons: 1) no adverse consequences attach to a measure promoted by a politician that CANNOT be enacted into law, and 2) a politician passionately tilting at windmills, particularly if the windmill can be made to appear odious – is not the NRA a monster whose hands run red with the blood of innocent children? – is likely to tickle the fancy of electors who want to cheer David over Goliath.

Here is the problem with Murphy’s ordeal: even if he and Senator Dick Blumenthal were to be successful in shaming the Senate into passing a gun restriction law like that passed in Connecticut following the mass murder of school children in Sandy Hook Elementary School several years ago, the banning of specific weapons would not assure the safety of children attending schools. Indeed, the Sandy Hook mass murderer was armed with a Glock semi-automatic pistol, and he carried with him in the trunk of his car a semi-automatic shotgun, a killing weapon every bit as lethal as an AR-15. An assault weapon is whatever instrument can be used to successfully accomplish a murderous purpose. Mass murderers have used cars to mow down innocent civilians, and bombs and assault knives. Terrorists in Israel used explosives to murder school children on busses.

That has not happened lately – because Israeli police officials and politicians and legislators were not interested in providing false solutions to real problems that only helped politicians on the make achieve office by publicly agonizing over the bodies of dead school children. There are no school buses in Israel; school children take public transportation and often find themselves among armed civilians. One must have a permit to own a weapon; weapons are carried openly in public only by those who can show a sufficient reason for openly carrying weapons, such as ex-military persons. Since military service is mandatory for 80 percent of the population, it is not at all uncommon for school children using public transportation to find themselves in the company of men and women openly carrying assault weapons.

Some school systems in the United States have adopted active measures -- predictive profiling for instance -- deployed in Israel to assure the safety of school children. These methods DO reduce risks, largely because they enable the children themselves to adopt non-reactive, predictive measures useful in any social situation. Predictive profiling is not concerned with profiling persons; students, school personnel and armed guards are trained to focus on things and unusual behaviors, so as to prevent violence in schools, rather than merely reacting therapeutically—much too late --  after a mass shooting has occurred.

The measures proposed by Murphy and Blumenthal may usefully advance the interests of Murphy and Blumenthal, but they are not preventative measures. A trip to Israel or a quick read of “The Israeli Model—Adversary Based Security For Your School," a power point presentation offered by the Indiana Department of Education, would refocus energies and help to create a safe school environment for school children. False solutions to problems advance the interests only of those who advance false solutions, and those who advance such solutions seek to escape rather than confront realities.