My heart has been breaking as I’ve followed the news from Uvalde, Texas the last few days. My deepest condolences are with the parents who have lost children, the families that have been torn apart, the survivors who have been traumatized, and a community that has been upended by one armed individual. 

 

The murder of 19 children and two teachers is unfathomable. But we’ve been here before. And unless we do something about it, we will be here again. We must act.

 

Republicans who are beholden to the gun lobby lean on every half-baked argument to ignore their common sense and avoid addressing the problem head on.

 

They say the solution is security guards in schools, and that teachers need to be strapped. There was a school district police officer at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. That didn’t stop the gunman, who carried a military assault weapon. A teacher with a handgun would also have been no match. 

 

They say the solution is to focus on mental health. Not only does this scapegoat argument stigmatize the tens of millions of Americans living with mental health issues who would never commit murder – it also would not have stopped the gunman in this case. The shooter had no documented mental illnesses or criminal background.

 

Those who are under the gun lobby’s influence tie themselves in knots to avoid the common-sense solution: outlawing the weapons of war that are used to commit these horrific crimes.

 

The nation’s Founders never conceived of a future where one individual could shatter an entire town in a matter of minutes. We must stop the manufacture and sale of AR-15 style assault weapons. They have no place on our streets.

 

And we’ll only take that first step when one of two things happens. Either Republicans muster the courage to stand up to the gun lobby, or Americans vote out the politicians who refuse to act to stop the next massacre.

 

I’m ready to act now. I truly, sincerely hope my colleagues across the aisle will join me.

 

– Hank Johnson (he/him)