The last two weeks of July in 2016 were full of grand entrances ahead of schedule, appearances from many Trump children, semi-plagiarized speeches, more celebrities than we can count, pocket-sized US Constitutions, all the feels for Michelle’s speech and a tribute to the suffragettes. Between the eight jam-packed days of coverage, what were the most talked about topics and what do they mean for America? What actions have Congress and the states already taken related to these big issues?
The RNC
Gun Control
Gun rights are one of the most identifiable causes for the Republican Party. Our Second 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.” The idea of a “well regulated militia” dates back to the beginning of the United States of America where every man in the town needed to have a gun to protect themselves not only against foreign enemies, but the government (Great Britain) at the time. The founders felt the ability of a people to overthrow their government would help keep that government in check. As Thomas Jefferson put it, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Over time, this idea has transformed from protection from an oppressive government to the right to own a gun for personal protection.
In 2008, District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme Court held that total gun bans were unconstitutional (like the ban of hand guns) but some regulation is legal. Regulations or rules are allowed regarding concealed weapons permits, the mentally ill and criminals.
Gun rights advocates believe that self-defense is a fundamental right. This right is protected across all 50 states, the US constitution and the Supreme Court has struck down laws to attempt to restrict handguns. They also believe that more people legally owning guns leads to violent crime going down. According to the NRA, “Through 2010, the nation’s murder rate has decreased 52 percent to a 47-year low, and the total violent crime rate has decreased 48 percent to a 37-year low” while the number of privately owned guns has raised to over 300 million. Finally, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Many people believe if it is your intent to do harm, having to obtain a gun legally will not actually deter you from committing the crime because it is so easy to obtain guns illegally in the US.
Gun control advocates think guns are dangerous for children, with 48 children and teens being shot in murders, assaults, suicides & suicide attempts, unintentional shootings and police intervention every day in the US. This Map from Slate.com depicts child fatalities from firearms since the Sandy Hook Shooting to December 2015. Child Fatalities from Firearms Since the Sandy Hook Shooting | Graphiq
Gun control advocates also believe that background checks will help keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them including criminals, domestic abusers and seriously mentally ill people. According to Americans for Responsible Solutions, laws requiring background checks could have prevented the purchase of guns by nearly 2 million people who should not have had them. Finally, many believe the second amendment is outdated and needs to be updated due to advancements in gun technology and the fact that 75% of the mass shootings in the US in the last 30 years have been from people who obtained guns legally. Here is an pro gun control advertisement that depicts this idea:
The Bills
Mississippi passed HB786 or the “Mississippi Church Protection Act”, which allows unlicensed, “constitutional carry” along with setting the foundation to reject and end new federal gun control regulations and executive orders. Following this, Tennessee introduced HB2389 which prohibits law enforcement officers of the state and its political subdivisions from enforcing provisions of international law and treaties that limit gun rights.
California made news headlines earlier this with give bills they passed and five bills they vetoed. Some of the bills passed covered topics like limitations on magazine rounds, background checks and lending guns. Bills that were vetoed included gun violence restraining orders, elimination of “ghost guns” and classifying firearm theft as a felony.
There were also five major bills that were all proposed as amendments to the Justice Department Spending Bill (HR2578). First, Amendment 4709 would give the Justice Department additional discretion in how it uses appropriated funds to conduct background checks to keep guns out of the hands of known or suspected terrorists. Second, Amendment 4751 attempts to open the lines of communication between the background check agency that Congress set up in the 1990s, the federal courts, the states and Congress to better carry out background checks along with defining what it means to be found “mentally incompetent” to buy a gun. Third, Amendment 4751 would have required a federal background check to be conducted before every gun sale in the US. Fourth, Amendment 4720 would allow the attorney general to ban anyone on FBI’s various terrorist watch lists from being able to buy guns. And finally, Amendment 4749 would require anyone on any of the FBI’s various terrorist watch lists (including the no-fly list) to wait 72 hours when attempting to purchase a gun.
Immigration
From early pioneers to the industrial revolution to Syrian refugees, we have been a land of immigration from our birth. People from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Mexico, China, Africa and the rest of the world have traveled to the United States throughout history. From its beginning, the US has been a land people traveled to for a plethora of reasons, many of which still hold true today. Throughout modern history, people came here for economic opportunity, freedom of religion, freedom from prosecution and the good ol’ desire for adventure. Immigration limits first started with the Naturalization Act followed by Immigration Act after Immigration Act after Immigration Act.
Anti immigration advocates believe that immigrants take away jobs from native born Americans. They also worry that immigrants who fail to learn the English language and do not assimilate into our culture could lead to the United States loosing its national identity, unity and national security. Indeed, white people are projected to become a minority projected to occur in 2043.
Many people who argue for more control over immigration believe that immigrants (especially illegal immigrants) lead to an increase crime. They are also concerned that immigrants reap the benefits of our society (free schooling, public benefits, etc.) without paying for them in their taxes. Others fear that immigrants could upend free market institutions in our economy by being able to vote for socialist or populist candidates and laws.
Pro immigration advocates believe America was founded on immigration, and that these traditions underpin our greatest strengths as a nation. Some further believe that it is our duty to take in refugees and other immigrants in need. They argue that immigrants do many jobs that native born Americans seem less inclined to do like working in fields, housekeeping or construction work. Here is a map from Business Insider on the top jobs for immigrants throughout the 50 states.
They also believe immigrants are not just employees, but consumers who stimulate the US economy. Finally, pro immigration advocates think many anti-immigration arguments basically amount to racism.
The Bills
The US Congress introduced S2538, or ICE Agent Support Act of 2016, to provide resources and incentives for the enforcement of immigration laws in the interior of the United States.
Looking at refugees, the US introduced the Resettlement REFORM (Re-Evaluation of Financing Our Refugee Mission) Act, or HR4267, which would authorize a state to refuse, without penalty, to expend refugee resettlement assistance with respect to an alien who “is a national of a country that is a state sponsor of terrorism or a terrorist sanctuary, or has no nationality and the country in which the alien last habitually resided is a state sponsor of terrorism or a terrorist sanctuary.” Arizona introduced HB2370 which would allow the state to refuse to help refugees if it can’t ensure they have undergone thorough background checks and would also require the federal government to fully compensate the state for any costs that the state incurs for the placement of refugees. Missouri introduced HCR97 which would specify that state funding will not support Syrian refugees and Missouri will not allow Syrian refugees to settle in the state.
Although immigration policy is mostly a federal matter, states still have a say in how immigrants are treated. North Carolina, for example, had five different bills this relating to immigration reform: H100, H 1069, H1086, S868 and H482. These bills range from tightening E-Verify statutes to protect jobs for citizens and deny jobs to illegal immigrants, disallow all basic use of community ID cards, punish “sanctuary cities” by withholding state funds, make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to vote and punish employers who misclassify workers as legal.
For a more in-depth look at the history and current state of immigration in the US, see this recent post.
Law and Order
Definition of law and order – “a situation characterized by respect for and obedience to the rules of a society.” Trump dubbing himself the “Law and Order Candidate” has been an incredibly important part of his platform since just before the RNC. One day of the RNC had the theme “Make America Safe Again” playing to Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again.” Looking for a historic parallel, we see “law and order” was a big feature of the Nixon’s 1968 campaign. According to one article, at this point in time the nation “seemed like it was on fire” with King and Kennedy’s assassinations, riots sweeping through major cities and parts of the county actually being set on fire. The crime rates in the US had been at historic lows after WWII, but were clearly on the rise. This made Nixon’s promise to get “tough on crime” a welcome proposition and powerful appeal to many petrified Americans. To help compare that period of time to now, here is a graph from the Atlantic that shows the US Violent Crime Rate from 1960-2012:
For the sake of contrast for this article, I will compare the “All Lives Matter” (ALM) movement to the “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) movement to showcase the differing sides of these debates. (For a philosopher’s take on how ALM came to oppose BLM read this article.)
Many proponents of “All Lives Matter” have also adopted the mantra “Blue Lives Matter” due to perceived increasing violence against police officers. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, this year the number of U.S. law enforcement officers shot dead on the job is up 78 percent. Civil and social unrest have been increasing over the last few years to the point where articles titled “The U.S. Is in for Much Greater Civil Unrest Ahead” or “Social Unrest is Here to Stay: Here’s How to Protect Yourself” are common. This anti-law enforcement rhetoric is being countered by the ALM movement by with statistics like this one from Fox News “According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2012 to 2013, latest available, African-Americans are responsible for 22.4 percent of all violent crimes in the U.S.A., despite being just 13 percent of the population. Whites responsible for 43 percent of violent crimes with Caucasians making up 62 percent of the population. But here’s the kicker. When you look at police shooting victims, whites comprise 50 percent of those shots, Blacks just 26 percent.” Other statistics and facts about the number of deaths of the white, hispanic and black populations can be found here.
The “Black Lives Matter” movement was started after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. Since his death in 2012, BLM protestors have demonstrated against 15 different black deaths in the United States. These incidents range from Michael Brown (and the Ferguson Riots) to Eric Garner (“I Can’t Breath“) to Tamir Rice (the 12 year old with a toy gun) to Sandra Bland (stopped on a traffic violation and found dead in jail) to Alton Sterling and Philando Castile (who died within a day of each other and lead to the Dallas Sniper Attack). The Dallas Sniper Attack was the deadliest day in police history since 9/11, where a sniper gunned down police officers in downtown Dallas, shooting twelve officers and leaving five dead. This sniper was found out to have specifically sought out white officers in a retaliation attack for the deaths of Sterling and Castile.
When speaking about Dallas, Trump stated “We must maintain law and order at the highest level or we will cease to have a country. … I am the law and order candidate. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is weak, ineffective, pandering and as proven by her recent email scandal … she’s either a liar or grossly incompetent.” Which can be compared to Hillary Clinton’s take on the event “What happened in Dallas, what’s happening to other police officers in our country is absolutely outrageous. We have got to do much more to protect and respect the police. We have to do much more to make sure that citizens in our country, particularly African-Americans, feel respected and protected by the police.”
People using the “All Lives Matter” mantra state that by saying “all lives” they are showing colorblindness: “We were taught that we shouldn’t ‘see color.’ And saying the word ‘Black’ was an acknowledgment of the fact that we did ‘see color.’ ” The issue that the BLM movement claims to be trying to shed a light on is that the color of people being shot and treated with undo force is what matters, so being colorblind is not understanding what the moment is about. Here are some tweets to showcasing this reasoning: