The Next One
Watch as Republicans wait for the passion to subside, then do nothing to stop our national tragedy of child murders.
It’s not the first mass shooting, and it’s definitely not the last. It’s just the next one, coming just days after the racist murders in a Buffalo supermarket and a Presbyterian church in Orange County.
In 2017, then-Fox News star Bill O’Reilly, said in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a Las Vegas Country music concert that took sixty lives and wounded 411, that such massacres “are the price of freedom.” A demonstrably false argument in that there are a lot of free countries, but these killings only happen here. Two-hundred thirteen so far in 2022.
Why does Australia have the best Covid mortality record, and why were they able to put an end to mass shootings? Both questions have the same simple answer: they came together. Years ago, they had one mass shooting. They immediately passed gun safety legislation, including getting assault rifles off the street. No politics. No whataboutisms, they just came together. Then came Covid, and what did Aussies do? They came together again. Our vaccination rate, stymied by mistrust and divisive politics, hovers in the sixties; their vaccination rate is 95+%. No politics. No ideologues. No screaming about individual liberties being more important than collective protection. Just common sense.
In 1994, we banned assault rifles, and mass shootings went down. There were 400,000 assault rifles then. The ban expired in 2004 and mass shootings went up. Today, there are twenty million assault rifles on the street.
As a kid, I earned marksmanship awards from the NRA. Back then, it was an organization that worked for gun safety. It focused on sport-shooters and hunters. That was before the gun manufacturers morphed it into one of the most powerful lobbies in DC. In fact, prior to the creation of their PAC in the 1970’s, the NRA supported background checks, waiting periods, and legislation to take automatic and concealed weapons off the streets.
In survey after survey, up to 90% of Americans say they want thorough background checks. That’s not a small majority, yet every Republican in the United States Senate, or a total of just 50 people, stubbornly refuses to act.
To hinder abortions, Republican politicians impose purposely unwieldy waiting periods, multiple doctor visits, and mandatory viewing of anti-abortion videos, but won’t do the same to save the lives of living, breathing children. If only Republican Senators were as concerned with life after birth as they are with life before birth, we might have something to offer beyond thoughts and prayers.
So, I must ask: what is with Republican Senators? In the aftermath of the Buffalo racist shootings committed by a domestic terrorist, they refused to pass a domestic terror bill. Now, they continue to refuse to take up the 2019 House-passed bill for improved background checks. Background checks, waiting periods, and red flag laws are not a panacea, but they’re steps in the right direction, and far better than inaction. We owe it to our children to chip away at this crisis, and not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but we live in a country whose Republican decisionmakers love guns more than children—except the unborn ones.
And yes, of course we should address mental health issues and harden soft targets to the degree possible. Realistically, we won’t be able to install bulletproof glass and secure steel doors in every school, or deploy armed guards in body armor at each and every one of those doors, but we can chip away at the problem as opposed to sitting on our hands.
Here’s a thought exercise for the many Second Amendment fetishists out there: Consider that when the Second Amendment was written, muskets were the personal firearms of the day. If they still were, a shooter would get off one shot and have to stop to reload, a process that takes at least thirty seconds. The Second Amendment also mentions “a well-regulated militia.” They were referring to state militias. Today, we have private militias, but they are not regulated—well or otherwise.
I think the Second Amendment should be repealed, but as a practical matter, that will never happen. (I’d also do away with the other hallmarks of minority rule: The Electoral College, partisan gerrymandering, and the filibuster, but that’s not happening either.)
From Dave Pell’s NextDraft: “The Texas child massacre was the second-deadliest school shooting on record. Spoiler alert: it won't hold that spot forever. We know that because this is what America is. Societal sociopathy is our brand. Our national pastime is letting kids be killed and doing nothing about it. Just check the numbers. Firearms are now the leading cause of death for U.S. children.”
In closing, I’ll ask you the same question President Biden asked in the aftermath of the slaughter of nineteen 3rd and 4th graders and their teachers: “Why are we willing to live with this carnage?”
2022 Jon Sinton
I hear you but have almost given up hope at the direction a few disconnected republican senators have taken this country. There has never been any reason for assault riffles, rapid fire handguns and large capacity magazines. The only thing these guns do is kill people. We’re past enough and I for one am exhausted with now what. I grieve for us all.
Saddening and truly a sign of collective insanity. Better to make guns easily available than to keep families safe? We cannot explain this to ourselves let alone others. It’s time now to change this. For our friends, our children. Both parties need to step up. This is not partisanship, its life itself. License, test for ownership, limit guns to athletics and individual shots, qualify purchases.