When a gunman opened fire at Oxford High School in Michigan on Tuesday, killing four students and wounding seven others with a Sig Sauer 9mm semi-automatic pistol that police said his father had shot. purchased just four days earlier, it was another tragic reminder that the Government had failed to address the need for tighter gun control. The 15-year-old suspect was
accusation one count of terrorism causing death and four counts of first-degree murder.
This is not an isolated event. There have been 48 shootings at K-12 schools this year,
32 of them as of August 1. School shootings have become more infrequent during the pandemic, with students learning remotely from home. Now that the kids are finally back in the classroom, here’s the risk – and horror – they must face once again.
For decades, the United States has faced a pandemic of mass shootings and the list of horrifying school massacres goes on and on. Even though Congress passed the first federal gun control law
in 1934, the gun lobby has in recent decades exerted its influence over allies in the House and Senate to prevent tighter restrictions on the sale of guns and ammunition. The problem has also become
increasingly partisan, with Democrats generally advocating tougher regulations while Republicans have championed
Expansion of gun rights. More recently,
Republican Legislature has been trying to make it not only easier to get guns, but to carry them around.
Republicans have repeatedly blasted a fake threat of “critical race theory” by arguing that school shootings actually jeopardize the physical and psychological safety of students. born across the country. The Covid-19 pandemic should have been another reminder that we need to take proactive measures when it comes to protecting our children. And while there have been many unforeseen developments in the pandemic, the lack of conventional gun regulations has been an ongoing tragedy over decades.
Yes, important mental health services. Yes, adequate safety measures in school buildings are questionable. But restricting and limiting the availability of guns is an obvious and urgent measure that can help reduce tragedies that have become the new normal.
The only Democratic president in modern times who has succeeded in promoting substantive gun control measures is President Bill Clinton. In 1994, the President, with the help of the Democratic-controlled Congress, overcame the National Rifle Association and passed the Recreational Firearms Protection and Public Safety Act,
that makes it illegal to manufacture, transfer or possess certain types of offensive weapons. The law, which is part of the controversial hardline crime-fighting package Clinton endorsed, also
imposed prohibits the sale or transfer of handguns to minors without parental consent. But President George W. Bush and the Republican Congress allowed the law to expire in 2004.
Politicians who have tried to tackle gun control in recent years have not been able to repeat Clinton’s success. Former President Barack Obama found gun control one of the most frustrating issues of his presidency. For him, it has become a stark example of how legislators, following interest groups and partisan incentives, have maintained a broken status quo.
When comedian and podcast host Marc Maron interviewed Obama in 2015, the President described how he felt after the deadly 2012 shooting with Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut that left 20 children dead. He criticized Congress for “doing nothing”
to add, “That’s the closest I’ve felt to disgust. I’m pretty disgusted.”
Obama told Maron the shooting could be stopped. “There are actions that can be taken to make events like this less likely to happen. And one of the actions that we can take is to strengthen some basic gun safety laws, through usually supported by the majority of gun owners…No other advanced country on earth endures so many mass shootings on a regular basis and considers it normal…unfortunately, restraint The NRA’s grip on Congress is extremely powerful.”
Before leaving office, Obama issued a number of executive orders on guns, including an order to increase background checks on people with mental illness. This was backtracked by President Donald Trump, who eased some
gun regulations and issued a
stock price ban after a gunman used a gun to kill 58 people and injure 700 others in a
Shooting in Las Vegas 2017. And although the 2018 school shootings in Parkland, Florida, sparked a nationwide student-led gun control movement, it did not shake the political status quo.
After another school shooting in Michigan this week, it’s likely we’ll see the same scene unfold once again, with renewed calls for gun control followed by the Congress did not act. The country has had enough of limiting its response to “thoughts and prayers” – it’s time to pass stronger gun control laws. Our children deserve nothing more.
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