Avery K. Tingle, The Gamer Author

I’m a human being and an American citizen, in that order. Yesterday, eighteen-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. He killed nineteen people (so far), most of them children.

This is not a new headline. Only the names have changed. A dark title has unceremoniously changed hands; this is the worst mass shooting since Sandy Hook. Just like in Sandy Hook, very little will be done to stem the violence.

The useless tirades have already begun to pour out. This is so sad. We grieve with this community. Thoughts and prayers. Following the end of memorials, we likely won’t hear about this again. Inevitably, there will be another mass shooting, as this is what America is known for. We’ll roll out the same useless tropes but once again, nothing will be done.

Our elected officials are, by and large, absolutely worthless when it comes to this sort of thing. One of our political parties appears gleeful in returning us to the ways of the wild west, with all of the racial and gender roles of old. The other appears completely impotent. Both appear to hold to the same creed: if they can’t profit from it, it has no value.

I’m not here to argue for gun control. We are long past the point of gun control in this country. Guns are too ubiquitous and easy to manufacture here. I’m not a fan of banning things. Banning things only encourages people to seek them out. I also respect the fact that some people enjoy firearms respectfully, and dear God, I wish they’d speak up now.

In the meantime, here are three ideas to stem the gun violence in this country.

• Institute a Nationwide Buyback Program With Guaranteed Immunity
  We’ve seen success with buyback programs. Five hundred dollars for handguns, one thousand dollars for assault rifles, and so forth. Beyond that, every weapon turned is immediately destroyed, and any crimes committed with that weapon cannot be prosecuted. This is admittedly a controversial measure, as a lot of gun-related crimes will never be solved, and a lot of people will never see justice for their loved ones. It’s not a perfect solution, but it will get a lot of guns off the street.
  
• Institute a Bullet Registration System
  The much-touted second amendment states that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed upon. Great. Let’s leave guns alone. Let’s register bullets instead. Police must account for every bullet fired. Let’s make this a nationwide thing. Every box of ammunition is registered to a government database. Every bullet fired, at a range or otherwise, is tracked and logged. Tedious work, sure, but it’s basic and would create a lot of jobs. This may be putting a band-aid on a dam that’s about to break. Bullets are relatively easy to manufacture at home. Make this a criminal act. For those that would argue that this is tantamount to government overreach, this is the same government telling people what books people can and cannot read.
  
• Start Teaching Gun Safety, As Early As The Fifth Grade
  We are societally conditioned to worship violence and those who commit it. We have also not only become numb to the loss of life on a grand scale, but we also don’t place much value on human life these days. Education solves most problems. It’s a far better solution than banning anything.
  Say we start teaching kids the proper use and maintenance of firearms from a young age. Some parents do this anyway. Let’s also say we teach our history, our honest history when it comes to our grave misuse of firearms. We teach about the more than three thousand mass shootings we’ve had since Sandy Hook alone. We teach that guns are tools, rather than toys. We teach that diversity is to be celebrated, not feared. We do massive potlucks that feature cuisines that aren’t native to us. The opposite of hate maybe love, but the death of hate is education.
  Not a sexy solution, but I believe this would be the most effective in curbing gun violence. Get kids used to the idea that guns are a part of our reality, teach them how to use them correctly, and things would change.
  

There are plenty of other solutions. We could divert resources away from our bloated law enforcement budget to mental health (look at what Colorado has done). This would let us address our obsession with violence, and how we like to see ‘good guys take down bad guys’. (Fact is, we’re all the bad guy or good guy at any given moment). I’m not saying these solutions are perfect, but they’re actionable ideas, and that’s more than we’re getting from our elected officials.

I want to see the gun violence stop. I want parents to not have to worry about sending their kids to school. I want kids to not have to worry about being shot. And finally, I’d like my country to not be on a gaht-damn travel advisory.

Thanks for reading.