Five Steps We Can Take to End Mass Shootings.
Part four, the conclusion of Lego Legacy Legislation: What Is It, and How Can it Solve Our Problems? Gun Control Edition
It’s our responsibility—each and every one of us—to create new laws. If we want a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, the people need to engage in civic duties beyond voting once every four years. Here are five ways we can each step up to end mass shootings:
1. Stand in our integrity.
What will it take for Hollywood to recognize the role it plays in perpetuating gun violence?
The movie, “The Gray Man” reportedly cost 200 million dollars to produce, Netflix’s most expensive film to date. It’s a film that glorifies gun violence and was released just two short months after the mass shooting in Uvalde Texas, that killed 19 children and two adults.
Celebrities are speaking out of both sides of their mouths. How can they say out of one side that they want more gun control and out of the other side say yes to making films that aggrandize automatic weapons?
How can we as a society mourn the victims of mass shootings, while praising films and television with our dollars and time for glorifying gun content? The same advertisers that support entertainment media, support news media; so if they know gun violence gets your attention, what do you think they will focus on featuring, and what do you think we as a nation will consciously or subconsciously focus on creating? More gun violence!
I am a fan of Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans. The film “The Gray Man” would not have been made on the merit of the script alone. It received funding because of the stars who were attached to the film. Ryan, Chris, and all actors have the ability to say “No!” to films that parade and celebrate gun violence. “The Gray Man” is essentially a 129-minute infomercial on killing with guns. It’s tone deaf to make carnivals of carnage films when America is still bleeding from the last AR-15 massacres.
Full disclosure, I’m a member of the Screen Actors Guild; so I am in effect calling out my own family. My desire is not to throw anyone under the bus but to empower us all to get off the bus until it’s safe for everyone. Actors have the ability to shape the content of films by what they say “Yes!” to making—thereby shaping the society we live in.
We can only demonstrate that we want gun violence to end when we demonstrate that we are not interested in hearing about or seeing it, for only when we turn away from something negative does it begin to cease to have power over our lives. However, as long as we continue to celebrate entertainment that features gun violence, while saying that we’re tired of seeing gun violence in real life, we send the mixed message into the universe of advertisers that gun violence is profitable; because whether it appears as entertainment or news, it captures our attention.
United Press International reported that the film, “The Gray Man,” received a 20-million-dollar tax credit to film in California. What if every film that showcased gun violence had to pay a 20-million-dollar tax to go toward creating more gun laws? It seems one of the only ways people make ethical changes for the better is when it hits them in the pocketbook for the worse. Twenty million dollars could buy a lot of lobbyists for gun laws through “Lobbyists 4 Good.”
If you think violence in media doesn’t inspire violence in reality, think again. It was reported that the Uvalde shooter made eye contact with one of the teachers and said, “Goodnight” before shooting and killing her. These are things people do in movies and video games before virtually killing.
We type out “thoughts and prayers” for the victims of gun violence on social media platforms and then return to our video games where we “kill” to relax. Humans are desensitized to violence, from the television and films we watch, to the music lyrics we sing along to, and the video games we play. When are we going to check ourselves and look in the mirror, take radical responsibility for our own contributing ripple effects, and change our behavior?
2. Start your own campaign for gun insurance today.
Go to Lobbyists4good.org. Use your social media platforms and influence to build one Lego Legacy Legislation at a time. If every person who wants to prevent another mass shooting hires a lobbyist to help pass laws in every community, we can and will make a difference. It doesn’t have to be a campaign for gun insurance—it can be any number of efforts to end gun violence. Choose the one you believe in most and feel impassioned by. The most important thing is to take any action toward the goal versus no action at all.
3. Choose to focus where it serves you most.
Have you read these two contrasting statements?
“Gun control doesn’t work—look at Chicago.”
“Gun control does work—look at Australia!”
When we hear statements of contradiction, we can feel immobilized toward effective action. The truth is that any gun law works better than none. Each law builds on the other, like the Legos, until they actually do make a difference and start working in a way that we can perceive. We’ve seen it happen before with the tobacco industry. Different laws address different problems. Take on a law that speaks to you personally and focus on where and how it’s been effective. Don’t let naysayers activate the lazy apathetic gene of inaction. If we want a safer world, we have to do the work to make it so.
4. Protect each other.
People want guns either to feel powerful by harming others or to combat feeling vulnerable because they feel they have been harmed by others. Many people in America live with housing and job insecurity and do not feel safe or protected. They do not trust the government—in part, because the government isn’t protecting them from guns, and from all matters of inequality: income, health care, education, housing, unions, job security, retirement, and safety in general. Citizens fear a civil war because we collectively spend more time blaming each other for the messes we create than we do working together to clean them up. If we want to ease that fear, we have to stop pointing fingers and choosing sides. We have to protect each other and care about one another as much as we care about ourselves.
5. Stop focusing on how different we think we are from each other.
We walk around so proud of our labeled identities: “liberal, spiritual Democrat” or “conservative, religious Republican.” We spend time choosing sides and picking teams: vegan or paleo, vaxxed or unvaxxed, cis male or trans woman. We’re all human beings sharing the same planet. We all have survival needs and the same desires to love and be loved. While diversity is worthy of celebration, putting too much focus on what makes us different from each other may be causing us more harm than good.
Once I realized how divided we were becoming as a country, I made a conscious choice in conversations and writing to de-emphasize self-identifying ethnically, politically, socially, and religiously, for I realized that each time I identified myself as one thing that aligned me closer with one group, it also meant I cut myself off from an aspect that aligned me with another group; and as citizens of the world, we are too cut off from our common humanity.
Underneath all the identities that highlight our individuality, our race, our R.A.C.E. (Religions, Allegiances/Nationalities, Cultural Identities, and Ethnicities) is the one thing we all are: human beings. When we can stop focusing so much on what makes us different, and separate from one another, we can come together as one.
The nature of the entertainment industry is branding, to become some “thing” which is identifiable with you. With the aid of viral videos, we are literally living in Warhol’s prescient world where everyone has the chance for 15 minutes of fame. Many people are searching for that as a form of validation for their relevance and human worth. They believe the more they can be different, the likelier they will stand out and be noticed and as such, feel value and to some extent, survive. (Make a living.) In contrast, the nature of oneness is to release everything we come to attach an identity to that distances us from humanity as a whole. The older I become, the more I desire to be less of who I am that separates my humanity from anyone else’s. This compulsion to be seen as special or unique is dividing us. When we can focus on all our commonalities, we can and will find unity and truly know the meaning of acting on behalf of the “greater good.”
Inspired to Action
When we allow ourselves to really feel the sorrow associated with the fragility of life, we become inspired and emboldened to live life with greater reverence. When we truly revere the life of the person who stands before us, even if we disagree or dislike them, we are neither capable of causing them pain nor allowing them to suffer.
We revere what we value, and we value what we believe has worth.
If we can see every person as someone worthy and in need of care, we can become our highest and best selves — we can self-actualize in that present moment – and the present moment is all we can sustain. Blaming Democrats or Republicans keeps us in a spiral of destruction and devaluing each other as humans. When we choose instead to focus on how in small exchanges, we can offer presence to people who seem to lack the ability to see the sacred in their lives, let alone in the lives of others, we demonstrate that we see their worth.
Our human worth is not based on who we are but rather that we are. If we exist in this world, we have worth; what we provide to others beyond that—is our value. When we see human worth beyond human value, we are expressing unconditional love. Showing people that we see their worth is just one way we can have a profound impact on preventing their inner hurt to cause outward harm.
When people feel heard, they stop screaming.
No one wants to feel invisible, forgotten, or powerless. Mass shootings are desperate acts of rage, of screaming pain from those who feel discarded and dismissed. The simple, basic human kindness of acknowledging that we see each other, beyond our self-ascribed labels of identity, can begin to transform the world we live in overnight.
Yes, we need better laws and protection; but we have to ask ourselves, “Why do people buy guns in the first place?” It’s often because they are afraid. If we fight fear (buying guns) with fear (protecting with guns), we create more fear. We have two forces at play, and we must choose which we feed: fear or love. We dissolve fear with the security of love. We make people feel protected when we take care of them, and there are many people in the world who do not feel cared for or protected in the world today. This is where our work begins: truly allowing ourselves to see every person we come in contact with, if even for a moment, by offering them our full presence — this is the one action we can all take today. This is where we start the process of healing.
Please know, I hear you saying, “No, I don’t want to think of the shooters. All I care about are the children and victims.” Yes, those who are suffering devastating loss need our attention…and…if we want to prevent the next mass shooting, the next shooter out there needs our attention too.
We must remember that we are connected. When we cut off another, we cut off a part of ourselves; and the world continues to pulse with open wounds. When the ship is sinking, and the ship of America is sinking, we don’t bail the water out before we repair the holes. We form communities and do both concurrently and we survive another day, one step closer to wholeness: integrity. We start the process of healing once we stop the bleed of suffering. We must stop turning a blind eye to those around us who are suffering; and if someone is living in fear, hoarding guns, planning to harm themselves or others, they are indeed suffering. Taking steps to heal those who suffer, is also taking steps toward protecting those who the sufferer may harm as a result of gun violence.
Who in your community is suffering and feeling unseen? What can you do today to help them know their worth in a way that would inspire them to create value instead of destruction? We have the power to evolve beyond these tragedies. Change is the only constant thing in life. That change starts with each of us engaging with the people we tend to ignore. Take the time to make someone feel seen today and watch the change unfurl.
Closing Thoughts
The publication, In These Times, notes that “the United States is home to the largest weapons industry in the world, with all top five global weapons companies based in the country.” Academic author and activist Khury Petersen-Smith is quoted as saying, “The US manufactures and sells more weapons than any other country. It invests in developing the most lethal weapons in the world, in using them to arm its military, its police, and its allies, and makes those weapons extremely available to its own population. Some of America’s largest gun and ammunition makers have seen their stock prices swell since the last massacre.”
According to Robert Reich, “51 members of congress and their spouses own up to 5.8 million in defense contractor stocks.”
Whether it’s the opioid crisis or gun violence, government intervention seems to start at the level of the individual rather than the corporations. It’s easier to take freedom from the plebeians than to take freedom from the pharmaceutical and gun manufactures who line the pockets of politicians on both sides of the political aisle. How and why are we to trust a government in which the very same people who profit from a rise in products related to guns and drugs are also making the laws around guns and drugs?
If we as a country are promoting and profiting from gun violence in the stock market and media, is there not a conflict of interest to end that gun violence in our schools? How do we isolate foreign gun violence (the sale of lethal aid weapons) from domestic gun violence (the sale of automatic rifles to the general public) when the same manufactures, lobbyists, and stockholders profit from both?
When presidents of the United States, regardless of political affiliation, say they want to end gun violence but continue to pander to a legislative branch of a government that accepts money from gun lobbyists, maintains foreign contracts for weapons, and whose members of congress profit from gun manufacturing stock—the words come across as mere performative gestures.
President Joe Biden has asked lawmakers to reinstate the expired 1994 ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Why ask and not tell? In my household, we believe in freedom and have never enforced discipline or punishment because we believe natural consequences to be the best teacher in life. That being said, there comes a time in regard to safety, when as a parent (or even spouse or child) one must say, “This is a requirement, not a request.” It’s not to wield power and control over another, it’s to use power to control a situation for the greater good of all concerned. What’s the point of having a governing body if it’s incapable of governing? Where does the buck stop, if not with the president of the United States?
The three branches of government: judicial, legislative, and executive each may run in theory as a democracy; but without a leader to take the helm, the ship spins in circles. If our country surrenders to bureaucracy, who does that leave in control of all the power? I realize that the executive branch was put in place to determine how laws are executed, not to create legislation; but in practice, laws are often created under presidential influence. What’s the point of an executive branch that can’t make an executive decision? This isn’t a dig on democrats alone, I’m calling out all political parties; it’s a dig on American government.
As a nation, we have lost our way through a tangled web of governmental bureaucracy, resulting in a lack of leadership. Have you ever been in a car with someone driving who didn’t know where they were going? Or hiking with a group of people where the one leading the troop had clearly lost their way? Did you keep following, with fingers crossed behind your back, holding onto faith, trust, and pixie dust that they will find their way? Or did you call for a time-out and look at the map yourself and start leading the pack?
The first time a governmental bureaucracy leads us astray, we forgive it as part of the imperfect process of humanity. The second time a governmental bureaucracy leads us astray, it’s a pattern that needs to be addressed. The third time a governmental bureaucracy leads us astray, we are an accomplice to our own demise.
When are we going to step up and demand change?
We oppose mass shootings, while we accept being conditioned as Americans to embrace violence like this from other actions—like those our country takes against foreign lands in drone bombings that also kill innocent people. History teaches us that until the people who make laws are directly impacted by those laws, nothing really changes. Who in your life personally has to die before you will take some quantifiable action to end gun violence today? We are all responsible for the tragic deaths associated with gun violence; for what we oppose with our left hand, we elevate with our right.
If you read this article and it motivates and inspires you to take action, please reach out and share with me what you’re doing. I will consider you a hero and memorialize you in any way that I can. Thank you for reading, and more importantly, thank you for taking action.
For more resources, please visit
Every Town For Gun Safety (everytown.org)
www.91percentfilm.com/organizations
Sage Justice is intensely sincere. Balancing wisdom and humor she most often writes deeply personal solution based pieces about the enduring virtues that connect us all: love and healing. She is an award-winning playwright and critically acclaimed performing artist who has appeared on stages from Madison Square Garden in New York City, to The Comedy Store in Hollywood, California. Ms. Justice is the author of Sage Words FREEDOM Book One, an activist, a member of the Screen Actors Guild and an alumna Artist-In-Residence of Chateau Orquevaux, France. She is a co-founder of The Unity Project which fuses activism with art, to educate and inspire, with a special emphasis on community engagement to end homelessness. She has a series of short reels about living with the rare genetic disorder, Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome that you can find in a highlight reel on her Instagram page @SageWords2027
Photo By Margot Hartford