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Mom's march missing meaning

Next Sunday, millions of moms are expected to march onto the Washington Mall in hopes of passing safer gun legislation. While this effort should applauded, it is almost sure to fail to change the violence in our society. The march only addresses guns, not how and why guns are used. The march also excludes men, and in doing so, makes gun control an issue that will now be seen as a women's issue instead of a people's issue. There is little hope for ending the killings and injuries guns inflict if our culture's violence is not also addressed, and if men do not become part of the movement.

We all know gun control is a very important issue. Each year, an appalling number of children are killed needlessly by guns, either in accidents or in deliberate shootings. Almost everyone in this nation is familiar with the statistics on gun violence, and it is true that those statistics are horrific.

Add to those statistics the horrible and very public shootings that have taken place in recent years. School shootings in Pearl, Miss. and Littleton, Colo. have provided the gun control advocates with an excellent catalyst. Office shootings like those in Atlanta and Hawaii have also brought the violence into our workplaces and into the public. It seems that now is the best time to pass gun legislation because there is an urgency in the work. It seems that if something does not change, every child in America risks being shot at school, and every citizen risks being shot on the streets. This fear has inspired the organizers of the Million Mom March.

The aim of this march is deceptively simple. All these millions of moms in Washington and in sixty other cities want are "sensible gun laws." This ambiguity is part of the appeal, everyone in America wants "sensible gun legislation," making the phrase and the movement mean very little. After all, what are sensible laws if the attitudes American's hold about them are anything but sensible.

Sure, those millions of moms have the best of intentions. What motive could be purer than those of a mother, working to protect and defend her offspring? But their movements fail to pack the wallop really needed to change attitudes about gun ownership and use in our communities. This, perhaps, could explain why groups as diverse as anti-gun lobbies and the NRA are quick to support this march. Being sensible sounds very nice, but it never means anything.

It is wonderful that people, from many walks of life are working together to create a coalition. But a change will not come from it. Creating more laws about guns and their parts is not about to change how acceptable they are in our culture. American men and women seem to love their guns, love the second amendment, and the right to defend themselves no matter the cost of human life. If these mom's are really in earnest about ending gun violence they should make sure that they instill in their children a respect for human life that is greater than respect for property. These moms should make sure that their sons and daughters do not come to see violence as appropriate or entertaining.

In this society, that is a daunting task. It is, however, the best hope that we have for really changing the killing. The moms were also hoping that marching on Mother's Day would make a big impact on their audience, but their decision to be so female-centric will surely have some unintended consequences. If men are not present in big numbers at this march, the gender gap that exists over the gun control will only widen. Women and men need to work together, not only as mothers and fathers, but as concerned citizens if gun carnage is to become less common.

The Million Mom March has the best of intentions. It seeks to change gun legislation and to make it sensible. But because its goal is so vague it is sure not to be successful as a lobbying force. Its overwhelming female membership also makes the gun issue less national and more gendered. But if real change is every to come, more than just mom's sensible laws are going to be needed. Men and women are going to have to come together and change cultural attitudes about violence.

Lora J. Mackel is a history junior. She can be reached at Lora.J.Mackel@wildcat.arizona.edu.