John,
At a time when the American people are more noisily divided than ever before on a polarizing array of issues and causes, none of those issues is more divisive – or crying more for solutions – than the question of guns.
We are all horrified by the toll of gun violence we are seeing across America. It’s hard to even fathom that we have had 17 mass shootings already this year.
As a nation, these tragedies have united us in shock and mourning, yet the first talk of solutions tears us apart. Neither side is willing to put aside their rock-ribbed, pre-loaded position on guns in order to sit down and find the common ground for solutions.
I am convinced that there are a number of reforms both sides can agree on, but it won’t be easy. As governor, I pulled together reasonable people on both sides of the issue – and those in between – and they found some common ground. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get these reforms through our Legislature, and instead had to focus on how we could make some positive change through executive orders.
From my experience, I believe what it will take to get politicians to act is for Americans to march in their communities and drive change from the bottom up – just as we saw during the civil rights movement.
In the wake of another tragic school shooting, I spoke with NBC's Andrea Mitchell about this on Tuesday:
