There’s always going to be a certain degree of generational friction. Each cohort is raised just a little differently from the one before it. They’re raised in a different world, with new challenges and technologies that shape them.
So while I might joke about Millennials or Gen Z, the truth is that I recognize that no generation is monolithic. I mean, I’m Gen X. We weren’t all the same, so why should any other generation be.
Yet it also seems that many in a given generation figure that they and all of their friends are representative samples of that generation. They feel empowered to speak on behalf of that generation.
A prime example is an op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times that seeks to make the case that Gen Z stands in favor of gun control.
Your high school statistics class takes a break outside. Everyone walks a few blocks off campus, soaking up the fresh air. Suddenly, you hear a bang. Everyone sprints. In the chaos, you see your classmate clutching his face, covered in blood.
That afternoon in Belmont-Cragin was two years ago, and it wasn’t my first experience with gun violence — but it was the experience that triggered me into advocacy.
Growing up, my friends and I were taught to stay aware of our surroundings. Our families avoided late-night outings. Curfew was mandatory. As the oldest in a first-generation immigrant family, I also did my best to keep my younger brother safe. Yet heightened vigilance only goes so far, and young people across the country cite gun violence as a top concern.
Gun homicide rates are twice as high for Latino youth compared to their white peers. Our worries are understandable: Among Chicagoans who witnessed a shooting by age 40, the average age of a Black or Latino shooting witness is 14. Many of us see gun violence before we get our driver’s license or graduate from high school. I’m part of that statistic.
Ask enough teens in this city, and you’ll find that many of us have seen gun violence or know people who’ve been in the crosshairs of a shooting. Since 2010, over half of the city’s mass shootings have taken the life of someone under 20. It’s no wonder why we factor campus gun violence risk into our college decisions. We’re tired, frustrated, and scared. Even now, two years later and at a college over 600 miles away, I still hear the echoes of that drive-by shooting.
Except, Gen Z isn’t factoring such things into their college decision, at least with regard to gun laws.
The author here is basically saying that he and his friends–all living in Chicago, one of the more violent cities in the nation–all favor gun control because their city is so violent. He doesn’t acknowledge that Illinois has extensive gun control laws that do nothing to keep violent criminals disarmed, nor does he touch on the fact that criminal justice reform efforts have put those violent criminals back on the streets with increasing regularity and startling speed.
But in trying to make the case that his generation see guns as the problem, not the solution, he contradicts himself.
After my experience, I understood why many young people consider gun ownership. Many people, including the majority of teens, believe owning a gun will protect them. But the evidence from over half of the city’s mass shootings is clear: More guns lead to more gun violence. In Illinois, soaring firearm sales during the pandemic coincided with twice as many children killed or injured by guns and a spike in citywide domestic homicides.
I get that the kid is really trying to push his nonprofit group as at least part of the solution, but he’s already contradicted the headline.
What’s more, his peers are actually right, so long as they do so in a lawful manner.
See, criminals are always going to get guns. We have entire subcultures that demand people get them, preferably through illicit means, then use them to earn “respect” by shooting anyone who fails to show it.
Those are the individuals who often represent a big problem, but they’re also the people who aren’t going to be dissuaded by gun laws, either, much less the actions of nonprofits that steal a page from MadLibs.
But some of those people also use those guns to attack innocent people, and that’s where his peers are right. Having a gun can make them much safer because they at least have the means to fight back. Often, just having a gun is a sufficient deterrent. Just pulling it shows you’re not willing to roll over and most criminals are cowards. They aren’t interested in a fight. They want easy meat, not something they have to work for.
In fairness to the author, he’s not necessarily deluding himself to believe his generation universally agrees with him on guns. He later clarifies that he hopes they will, more or less, which is a much saner position to take, but the truth is that he’d best hope they don’t.
Gun laws disempower the law-abiding and empower the criminal. Those are the very people he’s complaining about above and they won’t even blink.
