You Can’t Always Get What You Want (When You Want It)

Disclaimer: This article does not support the promotion of gun use.

 It was mid-November 1965 and the perfect time to start lobbying for what I wanted for Christmas. It was more than one month after my birthday and before my mother and father made their bedroom “Fort Knox “secure. That’s where they kept all the gifts. That Christmas, at least for boys in my neighborhood, the hottest toy on the market was the James Bond 007 Secret Agent Attaché Case. The attaché case was inspired by the film “From Russia With Love.” The case itself was pleather, but it came with a Beretta that was functional from inside the case, a hidden knife, decoder, boobytraps, a special pen, a passport, business cards, and gold coins.

When that Christmas rolled around, my friends and I fell into one of three groups. Those that received the attaché, those that didn’t, and me, who only received a Beretta. Was it disappointing that I only received a Beretta? You better believe it was. Not only was I at a disadvantage in our secret agent skirmishes, but I also had to withstand my friends that had attaché cases taunts of “He’s Double No 7”. Despite my disappointment, I appreciated that my parents made the sacrifices necessary to get me the James Bond Beretta.

Our country has a penchant for declaring loudly and often about those things we believe we are best at but speaks in hushed tones or not at all about those things we fail. In 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documented that 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries. It includes murders and gun suicides. Active shooter incidents have tripled since George W. Bush allowed the assault weapons ban to expire. The Republicans’ advocacy for unfettered access to arms, most notably assault weapons, has made our schools, supermarkets, and other Penn public venues killing fields.

After two horrific mass murders in May 2022, the racially motivated murders in Buffalo, and the slaughter of 19 beautiful children and two of their teachers in Uvalde, a fervent and passionate demand for laws that would end this madness rose among the public. For decades the American people made it clear that they wanted statutes and regulations to reverse this tragic trend fueled by one-third of our nation’s obsession with arms. It’s absurd that we have resorted to evaluating which shootings are more tragic than others, but many of us thought that what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary school on December 12, 2012, would turn the tide. To our dismay but not surprise, the murder of 20 innocent babies and six teachers/staff members did not move the needle on legislation an inch.

Fast forward to June 12, 2022, and through the impassioned advocacy of victims and groups like Everytown For Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, Sandy Hook Promise, March For Our Lives, the Brady Campaign, and Giffords. Primarily due to the resolute efforts of politicians like Chris Murphy and several other Congress members, we are on the verge of getting the James Bond Beretta but not the entire attaché case. A group of 20 Senators agreed on a framework that could break the impasse.

Yet, some argue that those who support these changes are undermining stronger gun law legislation. Nothing could be further from the truth. No one that advocates for banning assault weapons, thorough background checks, age restrictions, and other measures are satisfied with the modest efforts agreed upon in the framework. Individuals that stake out all or nothing positions vacillate between utopian and dystopian views of the world and are impediments to progress. Still, much like that Christmas in 1965, I appreciated my James Bond Beretta, but that didn’t stop me from lobbying for a subsequent Christmas list.

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