Mass Shootings Won’t Stop Until Gun Control Legislation Is Passed
Buffalo, Uvalde, Tulsa…the list goes on and on.
Communities throughout the United States continue to be ravaged by rampant gun violence. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 250 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2022 alone.
A recent study determined that the U.S. accounted for 73% of all mass shootings in developed countries. This statistic solely exists because of the toxic gun culture in the U.S. coupled with the inability of Congress to pass gun control legislation.
Following a major mass shooting, a sharp rise in gun control activism takes the public forum. Politicians deliver statements, families mourn, lives are lost and the promise of change evaporates with time.
In 2012, Sandy Hook, a village in the town of Newtown, Connecticut witnessed a mass shooting that resulted in the deaths of 27 people including 20 children. Despite the country being heartbroken by the scene of elementary students dying in their classrooms, several attempts at passing gun control legislation failed.
A decade later, the inaction to pass gun control legislation took its toll when another mass shooting took place at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The shooting resulted in the death of 22 people.
Once again, parents unjustly mourned the loss of their children.
Democrats and Republicans agree gun violence is a pressing issue. Democrats propose gun-control legislation, whereas Republicans shift the focus to mental health and enhancing security in schools and public settings.
Fighting gun violence with more guns has proven to be disastrous. At Uvalde, parents were filmed begging police officers to enter the school as the shooter continued his onslaught.
It took more than an hour for the shooter to be neutralized.
In that time frame, Angeli Rose Gomez, mother of two students at Robb Elementary, jumped a fence at the school to save her children.
In response to the shooting, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott placed the blame on mental health. However, Abbott cut $211 million from the department in charge of mental health in April to finance border security.
In 1996, the Port Arthur Massacre became Australia’s worst mass shooting with 35 fatalities. In response, the Australian government banned certain semi-automatic weapons and shotguns, created new licensing requirements, established a national firearms registry and invested $375 million in gun buyback programs.
It took Australia 22 years to have another shooting with more than five fatalities.
The U.S. should follow Australia’s example by creating stronger background checks, investing in mental health resources and banning semi-automatic rifles. No one has a valid reason to need a weapon as powerful as an AR-15.
Last Wednesday the House of Representatives passed a bill aimed at tightening federal gun regulations. A section of the bill would raise the legal age to buy a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21 years. Under this bill, the Uvalde shooter wouldn’t have been able to legally buy the AR-15 he used.
While the bill saw initial success in the House of Representatives, it is unlikely to become law due to the Senate’s longstanding tradition of dismissing bills through filibustering.
If we want to prevent the next mass shooting, we must take action now. With each mass shooting, we are reminded and given an opportunity as a nation to change.
Unfortunately, we have yet to learn our lesson.
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