O

ne day, I may forget my 
name. I will wake up 
in a stranger’s house 

and see a person I’ve never 
met before in the mirror. Her 
eyes will stare blankly back at 
me, face muscles sagging with 
fatigue and confusion. One 
day, I will forget how to hug 
someone. I will have to ask 
where the bathroom is in my 
own home, and I will need help 
getting there.

One day, my brain may 

simply forget how to breathe.

Every 66 seconds, someone 

in the United States develops 
Alzheimer’s disease. It is the 
sixth leading cause of death in 
the nation, and the only one in 
the top 10 that cannot be cured, 
prevented or slowed. If there 
is no cure in my lifetime, I may 
become one of its victims — if not 
me, then a loved one. Everyone 
with a brain is at risk; no matter 
how healthy your lifestyle or 
how active your brain, your 
own home may one day become 
a maze of once-familiar objects 
and hallways. Your loved ones 
will helplessly watch from the 
other side of the glass, your face 
unrecognizable as you slowly 
walk into the unknown.

I’ve 
worked 
at 
the 

Alzheimer’s Association for 
eight months now and have 
already 
heard 
a 
lifetime’s 

worth of stories from people 

affected by the disease. I’ve 
spoken with a woman who left 
school to become a full-time 
caregiver for her grandmother, 
who recently passed away 
after fighting Alzheimer’s for 
15 years. I’ve heard stories of 
husbands who have forgotten 
their 
wives’ 
names 
after 

50 years of marriage and 
countless families who have 
sacrificed 
their 
retirement 

savings to preserve the last 
few years they had with their 
loved one. Children have told 
me stories of how their parents 
have already forgotten them 
and I’ve read about brides 
who have rescheduled their 
weddings so that their parents 
could attend before it could be 
erased from their memories.

What gives me hope is 

knowing that as more people 
are affected by the disease, the 
world gains more advocates 

to fight against it. Right now, 
thousands of people across the 
country are participating in 
the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, 
“the world’s largest event to 
raise awareness and funds 
for Alzheimer’s care, support 
and research.” I urge you to 
join me on Sunday as I walk 
alongside them at Washtenaw 
Community College, bringing 
us steps closer to a world 
without Alzheimer’s. 

Though 
I 
know 
I 
may 

eventually 
become 
another 

victim of the disease, I may 
also be its first survivor. 
One day, the unfamiliar may 
become familiar once more, 
and the glass of my eyes may 
be cleared. I may be reunited 
with my loved ones without 
ever having to leave them.

I know that I am lucky to 

have not yet been touched by 
Alzheimer’s disease, though 
in a way I already have. In just 
eight months, the fear that I 
may lose myself within my own 
body has ignited a new passion. 
The stories I’ve heard have lit 
a purple flame within me that 
grows each day, lighting the 
way into the unknown, the 
future, where I know the first 
survivor will be waiting.

Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Friday, October 6, 2017

REBECCA LERNER

Managing Editor

420 Maynard St. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

EMMA KINERY

Editor in Chief

ANNA POLUMBO-LEVY 

and REBECCA TARNOPOL 

Editorial Page Editors

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. 

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

HANNAH BRAUER | OP-ED

Carolyn Ayaub
Megan Burns

Samantha Goldstein

Caitlin Heenan
Jeremy Kaplan

Sarah Khan

Anurima Kumar

Max Lubell

Lucas Maiman

Alexis Megdanoff
Madeline Nowicki
Anna Polumbo-Levy 

Jason Rowland

Anu Roy-Chaudhury

Ali Safawi

Sarah Salman
Kevin Sweitzer

Rebecca Tarnopol

Stephanie Trierweiler

Ashley Zhang

Hannah Brauer is an LSA 

sophomore.

NATALIE BROWN | CONTACT NATALIE AT NGBROWN@UMICH.EDU

Walking to end Alzheimer’s

Federal Level Policy

In the wake of the largest 

mass 
shooting 
in 
recent 

U.S. history, Speaker of the 
House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch 
McConnell, R-Ky., will not talk 
about gun violence this week. 
Over at the White House, press 
secretary 
Sarah 
Huckabee-

Sanders has said, “It would be 
premature for us to discuss 
policy when we don’t fully 
know all the facts or what took 
place (Sunday night).” I have 
one question for our federal 
government: If not now, when?

This “thoughts and prayers” 

discourse followed by inaction 
is nothing new. In fact, since 
the shooting at Sandy Hook 
Elementary School in December 
2012, Congress has failed to do 
anything significant to stem 
the tide of gun violence in the 
United 
States. 
While 
other 

Western nations have taken 
bold steps in the wake of tragic 
shootings, the U.S. government 
continues to do nothing.

While 
it 
is 
difficult 
to 

understand 
or 
change 
the 

motives of domestic terrorists, 
the federal government can 

change their access to guns 
— especially to assault rifles 
and large magazines. Anti-gun 
control sentiment is too common 
in 
our 
federal 
government, 

which failed to reauthorize an 
assault weapons ban (found 
constitutional in court) when 
the ban expired in 2004.

In a 2016 Gallup poll, 55 

percent of Americans surveyed 
said that laws regarding firearm 
sales should be stricter. Though 
the majority of the United 
States is in favor of greater gun 
control policies, our lawmakers 
continuously fail to act. One of 
the largest barriers to federal 
common-sense gun reform is the 
financial hold the National Rifle 
Association has on Congress. 
A 
large 
number 
of 
House 

representatives and senators — a 
majority of whom are members 
of the GOP — receive monetary 
incentives from the NRA. The 
supposed “freedoms” granted by 
the Second Amendment are not 
worth the mass murders that are 
becoming all too common. While 
the NRA and White House 
recently announced that they are 
“open” to discussing regulating 
bump stocks — a device one 
can attach to a weapon that 

allows it to fire multiple rounds 
of ammunition in a row — they 
have yet to make any concrete 
plans and the timeline of any 
such legislation is unclear and 
promise of any follow-through is 
hypothetical at best.

While there is a place for local 

and state gun control, it does 
very little if someone can drive 
to Ohio to buy an assault weapon 
banned in Michigan. The federal 
government’s 
mandate 
over 

interstate commerce is needed in 
this matter to ensure the safety 
of those who live in all corners of 
our country.

Where 
are 
our 
elected 

representatives in the face of 
such bloodshed? Will we finally 
see Congress put people over 
party, stand up to the NRA and 
get something done after what 
happened in Las Vegas? Federal 
involvement is needed to combat 
staggering rates of gun violence, 
the highest in the developed world, 
in the United States. It is high time 
that Congress acts. Should they 
fail, it is up to concerned citizens 
to elect people who will.

Action against gun violence 
M

onday’s Las Vegas shooting, which left at least 59 dead 
and 500 injured, adds another tally to the United States’ 
dark history of gun violence. Action must be taken in 

order to end these incredibly avoidable catastrophes. The Michigan 
Daily Editorial Board believes issues surrounding gun violence 
should be politicized in order to enact much-needed change. In 
the following roundtable discussion, Opinion contributors suggest 
three different ways to help eliminate gun violence in the U.S. 
 
 
 
 
 
 —The Michigan Daily Editorial Board

Local 
and 
State 
Level 

Policy

If you are 25 or older, 

you have lived through six 
of the 10 deadliest mass 
shootings in United States 
history. Despite our nation’s 
collective 
nausea, 
the 

shooting in Las Vegas is yet 
another example that disgust 
has failed to beget legislative 
changes. After all, the last 
time our Congress passed 
any gun control legislation 
was 2013. With NRA-backed 
Republicans controlling both 
the executive and legislative 
branches, prospects in the 
near future are grim. Because 
of their inaction, we clearly 
cannot wait any longer to 
consider alternative means 
of progress. We must start 
demanding change in our 
states, counties and cities. 

“Local” change is almost a 

pejorative; everybody knows 
nationwide 
change 
has 
a 

greater impact and a wider 
reach. But, if politics is the 
art of the possible, then we 
cannot 
keep 
counting 
on 

Congress to pass the kind 
of laws many of us can see 
are so desperately needed. 

The consequences of stalled 
reform become more and more 
fatal with every homicide and 
mass shooting.

While gun violence may 

look slightly different state 
by state, the violence doesn’t 
vary so much that policy 
proposals 
for 
individual 

states must differ greatly 
from the kind of policies 
proposed nationally. Plenty 
of organizations, lobbyists 
and 
policy 
writers 
can 

make 
local 
legislation 
a 

reality. 
Requiring 
stricter 

background checks, limiting 
the amount and kinds of guns 
per household, closing gun 
loopholes and barring felons 
and 
members 
of 
federal 

watchlists from purchasing 
guns are all viable options 
on the local level. Though 
these are frequently referred 
to as “common sense” gun 
control laws, their individual 
impact 
is 
unknown 
until 

implementation. 
Some 
of 

these laws might prove to 
do more harm than good, 
especially if the punishment 
for 
breaking 
these 
laws 

falls disproportionately on 
certain populations.

There are many potential 

issues 
with 
attempting 

change on a more local level. 
It’s putting a bandage on a 
national wound, and there are 
still no mechanisms to stop 
the movement of guns across 
state borders, let alone from 
city to city. In addition to 
these policy issues, there are 
structural issues with a local 
attempt, too — people simply 
care less about state and local 
issues, especially in off-year 
elections. But, if gun control 
is truly about limiting access 
to guns, then a local attempt 
is a necessary start.

With 
a 
Congress 
that 

actually enacted the will of 
the people, we would have 
already taken steps to address 
gun violence. After all, polling 
indicates that more than eight 
out of 10 people in the United 
States support some form of 
gun control. In light of this, 
the legislative paralysis we 
are desensitized to is even 
more morally repugnant. And 
yet, the real tragedy would 
be to wait in the hope that 
things will change without a 
different approach.

Funding for Research

Las Vegas; Orlando, Fla.; San 

Bernardino, Calif.; Newtown, 
Conn.; 
Fort 
Hood, 
Texas; 

Blacksburg, Va. All have at 
one point been synonymous 
with the gun violence that has 
become almost epidemic in 
our country. Yet somehow, the 
notion of finding solutions to 
this crisis is scoffed at by many.

But why exactly is this 

level of violence unique to 
our version of freedom? A 
2016 study by The American 
Journal of Medicine found that, 
compared to 22 other high-
income nations, “Americans are 
10 times more likely to be killed 
by guns” as “the United States’ 
gun-related murder rate is 25 
times higher.” Unfortunately, 
the bulk of available research 
on gun violence stops there.

Gun 
legislation 
in 
this 

country 
is 
not 
drafted 

through 
careful, 
pragmatic 

consideration of public interest, 
but is instead pushed by those 
with the loudest voices and the 
deepest pockets. It doesn’t take 
much research to grasp this 
fact, and any American who 
truly cares about our citizens’ 
safety should acknowledge this 
system as flawed.

It could not be clearer that 

the NRA and the “logic” it 

peddles should not be what 
dictates our laws. It should 
instead be based on common 
sense and empirical realities. 
The availability of such data, 
however, is shockingly scarce 
and 
underfunded. 
A 
1997 

spending 
bill 
amendment, 

dubbed 
the 
“Dickey 

Amendment,” has prevented 
the 
Centers 
for 
Disease 

Control and Prevention from 
conducting 
comprehensive 

gun violence research in the 
two decades since. The NRA’s 
rationale for pushing this bill: 
The CDC is a biased, anti-
gun organization. The reality: 
The CDC is an organization 
formed with the purpose of 
safeguarding the public health 
by identifying threats to it 
and lobbying for and applying 
solutions to these threats.

Among 
the 
many 

problems with the discourse 
surrounding gun violence in 
our country is the subjectivity 
of logic. For instance, the 
debate 
over 
open-carry 

laws in numerous states is 
a clash between two lines 
of reasoning. On one end, 
opponents argue the danger 
of open-carry is that no law 
is broken until shots have 
been fired. On the other end, 
many would argue the “only 
way to stop a bad guy with a 

gun is a good guy with a gun.” 
Nevertheless, 
there 
is 
no 

doubt that in any discussion 
of gun control both sides will 
assert a logic they believe to 
be unassailable.

There are merits to a law-

abiding citizen wanting to own a 
gun, whether it’s for security or 
sport. There are far fewer merits, 
however, to a law-abiding citizen 
easily 
accruing 
an 
arsenal 

of 
military-grade 
weapons, 

ammunition and modifications.

The idea that many of our 

lawmakers would rather take 
the word of a corporate lobby 
defending its own financial 
interests over that of a federally-
funded public health institute 
is asinine, and it’s clearer than 
ever that this type of research 
needs to be the backbone of our 
legislation once again.

Maybe then we would live in 

a country where those suffering 
from mental illness couldn’t 
swiftly obtain guns, those on 
a terror watchlist couldn’t arm 
themselves with assault rifles 
and a deranged, law-abiding 
citizen couldn’t stockpile 23 
rifles and fire on 22,000 of his 
fellow citizens.

“I may be its first 

survivor.”

SUBMIT TO SURVIVORS SPEAK

The Opinion section has created a space in The Michigan Daily 
for first-person accounts of sexual assault and its corresponding 

personal, academic and legal implications. Submission 
information can be found at https://tinyurl.com/y7vyteja.

David Donnantuono can be reached 

at ddwdonn@umich.edu.

Ali Safawi is an Editorial Board 

member and can be reached at 

asafawi@umich.edu.

Andrew Mekhail can be reached at 

mekhail@umich.edu.

