The state of Washington is reeling after a shooting at the Cascade Mall in Burlington on Sept. 23.

Before the shooting, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson called for semi-automatic weapons to be banned within the state, citing his belief that banning “military style weapons” would reduce unnecessary deaths. His comments came after the July 30 shooting in Mukilteo.

What is rarely discussed, however, is if more restrictive gun laws actually prevent violence. Officials like Ferguson seem to think removing the means to commit violence will stop violence – but is that actually possible?

Pullman Police Commander Chris Tennant helped to put the issue into perspective.

“The vast majority of guns out right now are semi-automatic,” Tennant said. “It’s like shutting the door after the horse has left the barn.”

Since simply owning a gun is not a predictor of future violence, should we be more focused on why individuals choose to commit acts of violence?

The Burlington situation, according to King 5 News, turned out to be a scorned lover who committed murder in retaliation.

But several other mass shootings have been highlighted by the media throughout the last few years. Many, including President Barack Obama, have declared we cannot go on this way, and that the US is quickly becoming the mass shooting capital of the world. But is this accurate?

According to CrimeResearch.org, the United States is nowhere near the mass shooting capital of the world. In fact, 10 European countries rank higher than the United States, according to a survey conducted from 2009 to 2015.

Exactly how many are dying from gun violence in the US?

Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton often mentions the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) statistic stating that there were 33,636 gun deaths in 2013. This is true, but looking further into the data, FactCheck.org points out 63 percent of these deaths were suicides. Only 33 percent of these deaths were homicides.

France, according to the Washington Post, has tough gun laws that prevent its citizens from owning anything other than hunting weapons. Even those hunting weapons require a fierce licensing process that includes psychological evaluations and must be renewed often. CNN described these measures as being comparable to the FBI’s screening process for White House employees.

These measures did not prevent 12 people from dying in an attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine, nor did it save the lives of the 130 victims of the Paris Terrorist attack in November 2015.

It’s worth noting that the Burlington mall shooter was under a no-firearm order, according to The Guardian.

Why, then, are Washington state politicians proposing gun laws to prevent mass shootings?

“Generally speaking, most of the (proposed) new laws are to make people feel safe, but they will not have much of an impact,” Tennant said. “Criminals don’t care about gun laws. Passing new laws will just take (guns) out of the hands of law abiding citizens.”

It’s clear that gun control laws will not address the problem. So what’s causing this problem, and how do we fix it?

Americans often forget that for about 14 years, all non-medicinal alcohol was illegal.

Gangsters in pinstripe suits ruled the streets as under-the-table alcohol sales climbed 70 percent, and these criminal bootleggers enforced their monopoly with a big stick. From 1919 to 1933, homicides steadily climbed, according to a report from the Cato Institute.

When prohibition was repealed, a violent era of American history came to a close. If only we had a prohibition to repeal, one might say.

But we do.

After Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, the federal War on Drugs intensified throughout the next three decades.

According to the Atlantic, laws enacted to aid the War on Drugs indirectly promote violence because individuals involved in drug-related crime often settle their disputes outside the legal system – typically through gun violence.

Additionally, drug-related violence constitutes up to 50 percent of all homicides, according to a 1994 Department of Justice report.

So end the War on Drugs, and you can end the wars in our streets.

“My entire career, I’ve had a gun on my side,” Tennant said. “It’s like a hammer. A dangerous tool you have to respect.”

Gun control will do nothing but provide a false sense of security. We have to tackle the root cause of the problem, not the side effects.

Banning weapons can seem like the simple solution, but clearly the effects are not as intended. Gun violence needs a complex answer, and that means addressing what causes violence, not what causes people to own guns.

Harrison Conner is a junior economics major from Stanwood. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.