Our Guns and our Kids - Retirees Talk “gun sense” By Paula Claycomb

Taos, New Mexico, USAFollowing recent school shootings in Florida and elsewhere in the US, the XUNICEF network carried on a lively discussion of what UNICEF and what we retirees could do. We asked Paula Claycomb, former Chief of UNICEF’s Landmines and Small Arms Section to comment. You can contact Paula at paula.claycomb@gmail.com.

“Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” That was the response by the first person I invited to a meeting of Moms Demand Action, a US grassroots NGO that works in all 50 states to reduce gun violence. I joined MOMS, as it is called, after a school shooting in Florida on Valentine’s Day, February 14, left 17 high school students dead and another 17 people wounded.

Before that senseless massacre in Parkland, seven school shootings had taken place in the US in 2018 alone. Since that day, another 14 schools have had shootings, making a total of 22 school shootings so far this year. This does not include the many thousands of deaths due to domestic violence, suicide or other incidents such as home invasion or other crimes.

In the wake of the tragedy in Florida, Niloufar Pourzand, wrote to all of us on the XUNICEF mail list to suggest that UNICEF should make a statement about gun violence in the US. Niloufar’s message generated a lively discussion about whether UNICEF should speak out on critical issues of child protection and the voices of youth in the US and other developed countries in light of the campaign led by high-school students themselves. Many of those who participated in the discussion pointed to the rights of young people to speak as agents of change.

Adhiratha Keefe circulated an article by Carly Kabot, a UNICEF Voices of Youth blogger, written shortly after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Carly’s blog post came at a time when the Parkland students began their ongoing, highly visible movement to control dangerous firearms. These students were then often villainized by adults who characterized them as professional actors or too young to understand politics.

As the daughter of a hunter who kept his family of six children fed with venison, rabbit, grouse and other game for much of the year, I have always respected the power (and sometimes admired the beauty) of guns and rifles. As Chief of the Landmines and Small Arms Section from 2006 through 2008, I recognized the rights of hunters and gun sportsmen. I represented UNICEF in the first UN-sponsored talks on a small arms treaty which began in 2006. Even then I could sense the reluctance of UNICEF to allow my team’s participation in the forum, despite an incredible increase in adolescent deaths due to armed violence in Latin America. The treaty was finally adopted in 2013. In early 2018, the conservative Heritage Foundation called for the US to “un-sign” from the treaty in keeping with the withdrawal by the Trump administration from other multilateral agreements.

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a widely read opinion piece on March 27 that urged a repeal of the Second Amendment. That amendment states, “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Stevens eloquently argued that concern over loss of such rights is a relic of the 18th century, and quoted former Chief Justice Warren’s statement that the NRA has been perpetuating “one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.” That was in 1986 and the NRA’s successful propaganda machine continues today, 32 years later.

So what should or could UNICEF retirees do? Should we urge the Executive Director to take a stand on gun violence globally? Should the Executive Director issue a directive calling for country, regional and headquarters support to children and adolescents in their activism around gun violence? Our discussion unfortunately did not lead us to a conclusion about what actions UNICEF should take or what actions we should recommend to the Executive Director. That indecision in no way means, however, that we as individuals cannot ourselves take action on this important issue.

Working with a group of about 30 other residents in Taos, New Mexico, I am learning just how divided these days my country is around gun violence and so many other issues. We started with a small group of older people unable to march or walk for any distance but who wanted to show our support for the high schoolers campaigning for safety from guns. We line the streets on days of their marches and hold regular vigils in highly visible places. We are now joining with teachers, counsellors, fathers, town officials and others in establishing a local chapter of MOMs.

It was in that context that I was making phone calls to invite residents to an organizing meeting in mid-June. My very first call was to a 64-year-old man who lives a short distance from my house. As I explained above, as soon as I introduced the purpose of my call, his immediate response was negative. Though we had a cordial if somewhat tense conversation, I do not believe I changed his mind even a sliver. And he certainly did not convince me that the weapons themselves are responsible for the global 560,000 annual deaths by guns.

Like every issue that UNICEF deals with, even seemingly straightforward ones like childhood immunization and education, the complexities of armed violence permeate discussions to find solutions. The US is especially entrenched in its gun culture, but should be able to follow the examples of other countries where murder by guns is almost non-existent.

Please contact me at paula.claycomb@gmail.com if you would like more information on the gun sense movement in the US. Or go to one of my three favourite organizations to learn more: Gabby Giffords’ organization https://giffords.org/; Moms Demand Action https://momsdemandaction.org/ or the Brady campaign http://www.bradycampaign.org/. These and several others are worthy of financial support and of your time.