A Washington, D.C. Lyft driver from Virginia is, literally and figuratively, at the intersection of the most controversial topic in the country, having witnessed extreme gun violence and later purchasing several guns.
Elton Howard, who is African-American, was 7 years old when he was sitting in a car with his mother, her estranged husband, and his younger half-sister. Howard says he jumped out of the back seat of the car when the man shot his mother five times. She was 26 years old at the time, and, almost 40 years later, still suffers from aliments resulting from the shooting.
“I’m pretty screwed up, but I think I maintain well,” Howard said. “I’ve been to therapy. I’m pretty resilient mentally and I’m pretty aware of the damage.”
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Although Howard has witnessed gun violence, and he believes raising the age to buy a gun and eliminating the sale of toy guns is responsible, he owns several guns, which sit in a bag at his house. The reason he purchased a handgun at the Dulles Expo Center in Virginia, home of the Nation’s Gun Show, was to connect with his son. Guns are his son’s “thing,” he said, and the pair enjoy going to the range to shoot.
“It all goes back to a childhood thing like playing with toy guns. If you allow fantasy to become reality then there is something wrong mentally,” Howard said.
Even though Washington D.C. has some of the tightest gun regulations in the United States, Howard admits that people simply travel to areas with looser laws to purchase guns. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, firearms remain the number one weapon used to commit homicides, accounting for approximately 70 percent of murder weapons. Howard says the United States is in dire need of stricter gun laws across the nation and a better understanding of mental health.
“Mental health is the reason people commit violent crimes. Violence is a mental health issue period,” he said.
Howard did not participate in the March for Our Lives on Saturday afternoon because, he said, it is a youth movement, but he thinks movements like it are much needed.
“I agree with the march, it’s necessary. Big business runs the country, and the gun manufacturers have a lot of clout,” Howard said. “I just didn’t think it was necessary for me to attend.”