Celebrating the AR-15 not the action we need

In a country that has been racked by one mass shooting after another, you might be relieved to hear that Congress is finally taking action in the face of all this horrific gun violence: Four Republicans are sponsoring a bill to declare the AR-15 America’s national gun.

Americans have been calling for someone to do something about gun violence, and this is certainly something.

Contemplating the specter that lingers over our schools, workplaces, shopping malls, places of recreation, places of worship, hotels and concerts, parades and homes — really, anywhere we might hope to go and feel safe — some people have started to feel the cold, creeping, leaden sensation that they might not be able to do anything. They have looked at the forest of guns bristling across the country and the judges undoing any attempts to regulate them, and they have felt despair.

Not these brave members of Congress. Reps. Barry Moore (Ala.), Andrew S. Clyde (Ga.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and, of course, George Santos (N.Y.) have looked at our gun violence epidemic and said: There is something we can do. HR 1095 is excited “to declare an AR-15 style rifle chambered in a .223 Remington round or a 5.56x45mm NATO round to be the National Gun of the United States.”

Presto! Suddenly, what we have is not a gun violence epidemic, but a national pastime. Instead of hearing all the time, “It is wild and awful that there are so many loopholes that allow domestic abusers to buy these semiautomatic weapons,” people will instead call out, “It is terrifying and awful that there are so many loopholes that allow domestic abusers to buy America’s national gun!”

Now, all the parents who say, “I am just terrified that a gunman will bring an AR-15 to my child’s school,” won’t have to say that anymore. They will get to say, “I am just terrified that a gunman will bring the national gun of the United States to my child’s school.” What a difference! Before, we had a regular nightmare. Now, we have a dystopian nightmare.

Other countries have national dishes, national instruments and national fruits. Well, we will show them. Sharing a meal, making music, dropping seeds into the earth? Wait until you see what we sow, and what we reap.

It is a relief to know that the people serving in our legislature asked themselves, “What comfort can we bring to the parents who wonder whether this will be the day they get the most horrible call of their lives? What can we do for the children who have to practice active shooter drills in a place in which they should be able to learn in safety? What are we going to do for the hundreds of thousands of Americans traumatized by unthinkable violence?” And they immediately replied, “We will declare it patriotic!”

Instead of screaming with terror, we will scream with recognition. That’s our national gun! That’s the one! Of course.

That way, it won’t feel like a horrible mistake. It will feel, almost, like we’re doing this on purpose.