America is addicted to violence. It is a centuries-old addiction. The addict is in denial. Like any true addict, this country makes empty promises about getting clean obsessing only on the next fix. Resistance to gun control marks the depth of America’s addiction to violence. Without intervention, there will be no recovery.
America was a child of violence-addicted parents. She rose out of the ashes of Revolutionary War, having committed patricide. There has been relatively little peace since then. War of 1812. Civil War. World War I. World War II. Korean War. Vietnam War. Grenada. Iraq I, II. Afghanistan.
And, there has been genocide practiced against Native Americans. Lynching of African-Americans. Threat of Atomic War. Cuban Missile Crisis. 100 years of race riots. Mob killings. Pearl Harbor. Iran hostages. Then, 9/11.
This long history of violence leads to its normalization. Addiction has become a way of life. Just like a functioning alcoholic, America functions well, most of the time, despite her violence addiction. However, the addiction is no longer manageable. It is interfering with business, family, and pleasure. Movie theaters, schools, parks, restaurants, offices, and malls are no longer safe.
Americans fear violence and buy guns fueled by that fear. Guns, like drugs, provide a false sense of well-being. As heroin addicts receive methadone or another drug to wean them from addiction, America needs to focus on life instead of death.
AA Step Two calls on an outside power. Federal gun control legislation is the outside power. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of more guns, Congress can create a safer America where the option is not a bigger gun with more rounds of ammunition. Legislation must include penalties for gun trafficking, a definitive ban on assault weapons, and limited the number of rounds.
In AA Step Four, the addict must take a fearless moral inventory. This country must assess its relationship with violence. A fearless moral inventory would mean more than a political sound-bite or hypercritical preaching.
AA Step Eight requires a list of persons harmed and a willingness to make amends to them. If paranoia concerning an upcoming race war is based in America’s history of violence then reconciling that history is the answer, not more guns, and more violence.
Step ten may be the most difficult. It requires an addict to admit wrong-doing. This means admitting violence begat violence. Under Step Twelve, having had a spiritual awakening as the result of this program, addicts must carry this message to other addicts.
Congress is waiting.
Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, an Associate Professor of Constitutional Law at John Jay College in New York City, is author of “Race, Law, and American Society: 1607 to Present” and a legal correspondent covering the U.S. Supreme Court.
