What will it take?
Over the weekend, a mass shooting in west Texas claimed seven more lives. A 17-month-old girl was shot in the face.
While we grieve for the victims, while we shudder in horror, the Senate does nothing.
When Cory Gardner was asked whether the shootings in El Paso and Dayton had changed his mind about gun control, he said:
“We can’t accept a status quo where people are committing these kinds of atrocities, [but] I’m not going to hurt rights in order to protect rights.”
Whose rights are “hurt” by a background check? Is your “right” to a weapon of war more important than my right to live?
Without gun reform, the status quo will never change. These measures won’t stop every shooting—no law can—but they will reduce the death toll.
I agree with Gardner on one point: this shouldn’t be partisan. Curbing gun violence is common sense, which is why most Americans support proposals like these.
Andrew Romanoff