A decade ago, a gunman killed 20 students and six teachers at a Connecticut elementary school, and many Americans wearily asked what the hell it would take to keep people safe on campuses as gun violence metastasized in a nation where the Constitution says gun rights shall not be infringed upon.
A week ago, a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school, and many Americans are asking the same damn question with the same level of anger and heartache. Maybe this time it'll be different. The left, the center and a larger group on the right than you might think are expressing major frustration at gun-rights activists who think that campus carnage — unique to to the U.S. in the developed world — doesn't require any new response. These activists in turn blame poor parenting, cultural malaise, violent video games, insufficient security and more for the shootings. They reject the idea that they are enabling access to firearms in a way that is a formula for recurring disaster — despite the ghoulish fact that among those under 20 years of age in the U.S., guns finally surpassed auto accidents as the leading cause of death in 2020.
Meanwhile, the one voice who matters most remains in his rut. On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., downplayed measures being crafted by House Democrats, which included more reliable, consistent background checks and crackdowns on proxy purchases of weapons. Instead, he said, senators are "discussing how we might be able to come together to target the problem, which is mental illness and school safety." That definition of "the problem" is a part of it.
