“Gun Control: Divergent Paths to Meaningful Reform,” a freedom of expression event, was hosted inside Reeve Memorial Union Thursday, Oct. 23.
“(Gun control) offers a wide range of views with deep feelings and beliefs,” Reyna Esquivel, an intern with the Center for Civic and Community Engagement, said. “Having an issue with such deep convictions is a great way to engage in civil dialogue.”
The panel featured two guest speakers, Abra Belke, who is a former National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbyist and is currently affiliated with the group 97 Percent and Emily Arrick, a former counsel to Chuck Schumer.
The event was co-moderated by UW Oshkosh’s Chief of Police Chris Tarmann and Elliott Fischer, a senior lecturer at UWO.
There have been 355 mass shootings in the United States so far in 2025, according to GunViolenceArchive.org, sparking lots of conversation and debate over gun violence and how to reform it.
In response to Fischer’s first question about the best policy approaches to prevent gun deaths in the United States, Arrick referenced community intervention programs as an effective approach.
It’s all the different things, especially in a country where there’s already so many guns already out there,” Arrick said. “There’s no single best practice, it’s in fact all of the practices.”
Big picture, she attributes the Dickey Amendment Act as a reason for having very limited data to research what efforts at preventing gun violence are effective.
Belke discussed her frustrations within the debate of initiating new gun policies.
“You pass a law, and you put out a press release, and you have your parade, then you never come back to make sure the darn thing worked,” Belke said. “We do it on so many issues and in so many different ways.”
Belke said the biggest surprise of her career was when her assistant came into the office Belke was working in and informed her that the Obama administration legalized bump stocks.
“I pick up the phone (to call NRA legal) … ‘Is there any way the Obama administration thinks that I can own a bump-stock legally?’” she said. “He responded, ‘No, absolutely not, I’ll call you right back.’ … Sure enough, he calls me back and says, ‘Yep, the Obama administration is pro-bump stock.’”
There are many different accessories and guns Belke wishes there were more regulations on, like silencers and machine guns for civilian ownership.
On the topic of regulating the use of technology like 3D printing to make gun accessories, Belke believes that policies won’t be able to keep up with the evolution of technology.
“It’s weird to me to see how it’s (gun sales) expanding with technology,” Belke said. “Tastes are changing, and it just evolves so much.”
Continuing on the same topic, Arrick said the argument that law enforcement can’t keep up with it because it’s too hard to regulate is poor logic.
“There’s lots of things I could figure out how to do to get around (regulations),” Arrick said. “I could also figure out how to buy a ghost gun right now, if you gave me 20 minutes, probably on the internet. It’s not that hard. It should be illegal, and if I do it and law enforcement finds out, they should be able to go after me.”
She believes that fundamentally, we have a justice system that is inherently based on deterrence.
“Most of the goal is for crimes to be prevented by people not wanting to do them, because they know that if they’re caught, they’ll face punishment,” Arrick said. “The goal should not be just finding people and punishing them. You want them not to do the bad act in the first place.”
When talking about impediments to initiating gun reform, either on the federal or state level, Bielke credits the Second Amendment becoming a cultural fight.
“So much of our politics now is us versus them,” she said. “We’re not talking about policy. We’re talking liberals who want to take my guns and crazy right-wing nut jobs who want 170 AR-15s. We have defined an entire debate that affects 300 million-plus Americans by a couple million spread on the poles of the political spectrum.”
Bielke listed many different organizations that she thinks have radicalized the situation and made it something that should concern the general public.
“They gain power by becoming more and more radical,” she said. “Which should be a concern to everyone on both sides of the issue, because we’re not talking about the Second Amendment anymore. We’re talking about who we love, who we hate and why.”
The Center for Civic and Community Engagement’s next event is scheduled to be held on Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. in Reeve Memorial Union.
