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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/nytlogo153x23.gif" alt="The New York Times" align="left" border="0" hspace="0" vspace="0"></a>
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<div class="">December 17, 2012</div>
<h1>Let’s Get M.A.D.D. About Guns</h1>
<h6 class="">By
<span><span>JOE NOCERA</span></span></h6>
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<p>
On May 3, 1980, a 13-year-old girl named Cari Lightner was killed by a
drunken driver. A terrible alcoholic, the man had three prior drunken
driving convictions. He had just come from a bar, on the back end of a
three-day binge. </p>
<p>
Within weeks, Cari’s mom, Candy Lightner, <a href="http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20079622,00.html">co-founded M.A.D.D.</a>,
or Mothers Against Drunk Driving. All over the country, mothers fed up
with the unwillingness of politicians to do anything about drunken
driving flocked to the organization. Within a few years, M.A.D.D. had
persuaded President Ronald Reagan to support a national drinking age of
21, and it had pushed through state laws toughening the penalties for
driving while intoxicated. Perhaps most important, M.A.D.D. turned a
dangerous behavior that had long been socially acceptable into a taboo.
</p>
<p>
I was out of town on Friday, when the Newtown, Conn., massacre took
place and could only connect to my loved ones by phone. My fiancée wept
uncontrollably: “I can’t imagine what it would be like to drop Mackie
off at school, and never see him again,” she said, referring to our
2-year-old son. My grown daughter also cried. </p>
<p>
Listening to them — and seeing how powerfully affected the country has
been by this horrible slaughter of children and their teachers — I
couldn’t help thinking about M.A.D.D. Its success came about because its
founders tapped into a wellspring of anger that had been quietly
building — just like the current anger over <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map">the recent spate of mass killings</a>.
But it also came about because mothers could give a human face to the
consequences of political inaction: their own children. How do you trump
that? </p>
<p>
Sadly, thanks to the elementary school shootings on Friday, children are
now inexorably linked with the kind of mass killing that has become far
too common. On Sunday, at the vigil in Newtown, <a title="The Times’s report" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/us/politics/bloomberg-urges-obama-to-take-action-on-gun-control.html">President Obama explicitly cast</a>
the country’s lax gun laws as a failure to protect children. I have no
doubt his remarks were heartfelt, but they were also politically shrewd.
Rarely has the National Rifle Association <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/17/tech/social-media/nra-social-media-silence/index.html">been so silent</a>. </p>
<p>
One absurd argument some gun extremists are already making is that,
instead of tightening gun laws, we should go in the other direction, and
start packing heat. That way, you see, we can mow down the bad guy
before he gets us. </p>
<p>
In Michigan, a bill to allow concealed weapons to be brought into public
schools, day-care centers and churches has been approved by the
Legislature and <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20121217/NEWS06/121217027/Snyder-Gun-bill-to-give-extra-consideration-?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs">is awaiting the signature</a> of that state’s Republican governor, Rick Snyder. In the most recent issue of The Atlantic, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/12/what-can-we-do-to-stop-massacres/266300/">Jeffrey Goldberg argues</a>
that the country is so “saturated” with guns — some 300 million — that
it’s pointless to try to put controls on gun ownership. Besides, he
says, “people should have the ability to defend themselves.” A Texas
congressman, Louie Gohmert, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-34222_162-57559457-10391739/gop-rep.-more-not-fewer-guns-the-answer/">said that if only the principal</a> of Sandy Hook Elementary School “had an M4 in her office,” she could have stopped Adam Lanza, the Newtown gunman. </p>
<p>
But the experience of other countries puts the lie to that argument. In
Australia, in 1996, a man killed 35 people in the course of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/archives/80days/stories/2012/01/19/3412072.htm">an afternoon rampage</a>.
Australia soon went from having relaxed gun laws to having tough gun
laws, including such common-sense measures as character witnesses for
people who want to own a gun, and the purchase of a safebolted to the
wall or floor. There are still plenty of hunters in Australia, but <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2012/12/16/gun_control_after_connecticut_shooting_could_australia_s_laws_provide_a.html">it hasn’t had a mass killing since</a>. </p>
<p>
South Africa may be an even better example. For many years, South Africa
was a country every bit as gun-soaked as America. I have a friend, Greg
Frank, a hedge fund manager in Charlottesville, Va., who lived in
Johannesburg during a time when it had become so crime-ridden that
people felt the need to own guns to protect themselves. He, too, owned a
gun as a young man: “I made the excuse that I needed it for
self-protection.” </p>
<p>
The guns didn’t make anybody safer. People who were held up while
waiting at a red light rarely had time to pull out their guns. And the
fact that so many homes had guns became an incentive for criminals, who
would break in, hold the family hostage, and then order that the safe
with the guns be opened. “Everyone knew someone who had family or
friends who had experienced gun violence,” he said. </p>
<p>
Finally, he says, people got fed up. In 2004, <a title="A Times report from January 2005" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/03/world/africa/03iht-guns.html">the laws changed</a>,
requiring annual relicensing, character witnesses and other measure to
keep guns out of the wrong hands. There was also an appeal to
voluntarily surrender guns. </p>
<p>
“I took my gun to the police station,” recalls Frank. “The cop receiving
it wrote down the serial number, took my ID, and I was gone. It felt
transformational, like a huge weight off my shoulders.” </p>
<p>
It will for us, too, when we finally get serious about stopping gun violence. </p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br><br><img src="http://users.moscow.com/waf/WP%20Fox%2001.jpg"><br></div>