Why is the United States awash with gun violence? Why do we permit guns in the hands of people wishing others harm? Why would anyone shoot through church windows to kill and maim innocent school children in Minneapolis?
Standing in the way of the answers is the belief of many that they have a constitutional right to buy and use guns without restraint, including tougher background checks.
So whenever anyone writes, talks, or expresses frustration about gun violence, people quickly line up on team red and team blue. It is a reflex and, quite frankly, lazy thinking between those who automatically favor the right to bear arms at any place, any time versus those who seek total gun control.
It is also literally killing us, from the smallest, most innocent to adults ending their workday in New York City, to people enjoying an evening out at a bar in Montana. Just three recent instances.
Sensible gun laws will take negotiation and compromise to end the deadlock. Yet we seem to have the smug ability to separate ourselves from the horror and somehow allow little to no action from these awful bursts of cruelty that rip through us.
Geographically, we are a vast country and a diverse union of people. Can’t we be both distinct and decent, people who are impatient for dialogue and action about ending the chronic active shooter scenario?
Sensible federal action depends on the political will of Congress and the White House.
The 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, was the most significant legislation in decades, which closed the so-called “boyfriend loophole” by preventing gun sales to people with a history of domestic abuse against an unmarried partner.
The Biden administration expanded the background check rule in April 2024. But it is in a splintered state. Lawsuits have resulted in courts issuing conflicting rulings, creating stagnation and a disjointed enforcement. The rule is blocked in some states and in effect in others, pending further legal action.
Can we please put more limits on people’s abilities to get guns used in warfare and restrict weapons repurposed for shooting bullets faster? Let’s have a rational discussion about gun access, mental health, and how playing video games imbued with violence is a tinder box that rattles young men.
If we haven’t collectively had enough, then perhaps the next generation of adults in their prime will. They are the ones who have grown up with routine drills aimed at responding to the terror and trauma of school shooters.
If not, we will continue to live with what Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara described as the “unthinkable tragedy” of gun barbarity that occurred at the Annunciation Catholic Church on Aug. 27 during the first week of classes Mass for pre-kindergarten-grade 8 students at the adjacent school.
There is no time to dither over sensible answers to a crisis when you consider there are more guns in civilian hands than the 330 million people in America.
Megan Giles Cooney is a columnist for the Traverse City (MI) Record-Eagle. Reach her atmegan.cooney1@gmail.com.
