Do you know why this country has a problem with mass shootings? For the same reason we are likely to have an octogenarian president during the next administration.
Both President Biden and former President Trump are old, as in “both men were alive when the first Arab-Israeli war began.” Surveys show his age is a concern for many Americans. The results of the primary elections so far show that that is not influencing the votes of many people.
opinion columnist
LZ Granderson
LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports, and living life in America.
This contradiction illustrates why it is nearly impossible to do anything meaningful about our gun problem.
On Super Bowl Sunday, a 7-year-old boy was seriously injured during A shooting at a megachurch in Houston. Kansas City Chiefs victory parade on Wednesday It became another of our gun nightmares.: one dead, more than 20 injured.
Surveys show most Americans want more laws to prevent mass shootings. The results of the primary elections so far show that that is not influencing the votes of many people.
A critical mass of conservatives back any candidate endorsed by the National Rifle Association. out of fear that Democrats are trying to take away everyone's guns, which, by the way, is not happening. What is really happening is an irrational, fear-driven arms race. Americans are stockpiling assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which no civilian should own and which inevitably fall into the wrong hands. Now every corner of American life is a potential site for a mass shooting: houses of worship, elementary schools, shopping malls, any public gathering.
In a Shakespearean twist, One of the few places you won't find a gun is an NRA convention.. Members agree to a gun ban when big names like Trump appear. When the Secret Service said “no guns allowed,” the lobbying group did not declare the policy an attack on Second Amendment rights. The organizers said yes.
The NRA knows what the polls say. Most Americans, including most Republicans and most gun owners., have long supported common sense gun laws that would prevent many mass shootings. But the gun lobby cares more about how people vote than how they respond to polls. Republicans aren't concerned enough to favor sane candidates when there are pro-gun absolutists on the ballot.
It's not that there aren't Republicans in favor of common sense gun laws. They just don't make it to November.
Do you know who does it?
The type of candidate you like carrying weapons in campaign ads. The type that cut funding for mental health programs and then lament the country's problem with mental health after a mass shooting. The politicians who make it to November are the ones who will ensure that weapons of war are easy to buy. These politicians stay very silent when the guns they supported are used to shoot children to death.
Out of concern for public safety, we have decided Hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for the opioid crisis, and yet we do not do the same with weapons manufacturers. Out of concern for public safety, we have decided to limit the number of over-the-counter allergy pills a person can purchase, but we sell an endless supply of bullets to anyone.
We have agreed to have our private parts searched at the airport because a terrorist tried to to ignite explosives embedded in his underwear 15 years ago. And yet politicians pretend it's hard to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
How exactly do Republican leaders intend to keep us safe, when they are abdicating their responsibility? They pretend that we would be better off if further of the people who drank in the bars had weapons and yes further The people who entered the churches were armed to kill.
That fear-driven arms race has gone so far beyond reason that there is a massive illusion that we can get out of the epidemic of mass shootings. Any proposal that could really work? Well, the gun lobby dismisses it as an unsustainable threat to Second Amendment rights. That's how you think.
If we can call that “thinking.”
More than 200 Republicans voted against raising the age limit to purchase an assault rifle from 18 to 21. Apparently there is a sweet spot where people are too young to drink beer but old enough to buy military weapons.
Like our electoral habit of voting for presidential candidates we say are too old for the job, after mass shootings we continue to seek answers from elected officials who tell us they can't do anything.
We can't send our kids to school, the movies, or even the Super Bowl parade. flooded with more than 800 law enforcement officers without worrying about weapons. That's not living safer. That's living under siege. Public shootings are a part of our lives because while most Americans say we care about guns, conservatives aren't concerned enough to vote for Republicans who want to do something about it.
