Innocent lives are in the hands of the U.S. Senate
Families in El Paso, Dayton and Gilroy are visiting their wounded loved ones in the hospital or making funeral arrangements this week. Meanwhile, the rest of America must weigh the possibility that someday they, too, could be grieving for a friend or family member like Jordan and Andrew Anchondo, young parents killed shielding their infant from a spray of bullets while shopping for their daughter’s birthday party; Nicholas Cumer, a 25-year-old college intern out in a bar district with friends who will never get to start a new job; or 6-year-old Stephen Romero, gunned down near a bounce house with his mother and grandmother.
There are things that our leaders can do to help if they can muster the political courage and the personal will to act.
President Donald Trump called for bipartisan solutions — namely a federal red-flag law similar to the one passed in Colorado last legislative session that allows law enforcement to seize the guns of individuals who are deemed, through a court order, to be a danger to themselves or others. It’s a good start.
Trump, however, also should focus on the role he has played, indirectly, in the shooting in El Paso. The suspected gunman, officials have said, was likely motivated by racism against Latinos, echoing the anti-immigrant sentiment that the president has made a cornerstone of his campaign.
“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America,” Trump said in a prepared speech on Monday.
The hypocrisy is difficult to swallow. If Trump truly feels that way, he must stop the hate he spews on social media and in TV and radio interviews. It should be an easy thing for a president to do — stop lashing out at others with
over-the-top rhetoric — but we actually have more faith that Congress could act on needed gun control before this president will change his dangerous habits.
Congress should start this week as U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet aptly pointed out calling for Senate President Mitch McConnell to end summer recess and consider guncontrol legislation. Sen. Cory Gardner should stand in support of reasonable gun restrictions.
No single law could have prevented all of these shootings. It’s still too early to dissect how these gunmen got their weapons, but we know from the many shootings that have come before that these laws can make a difference.
Background checks on firearm sales should be universal. Gun owners should want to know before they sell a gun to a stranger if that individual has a criminal record that would prevent them from buying a gun legally in a store. Gun owners should feel a collective responsibility to help keep guns out of the hands of criminals or away from individuals who have already lost their weapons through court orders or who have restraining orders barring them from possessing weapons.
Magazines should have bullet limits: A 100-round magazine is convenient for those who don’t want to reload, but it’s also deadly for those trying to flee from a mass shooter.
And we are sick of claims that rifles designed for war — then made semiautomatic for retail sales across the nation — are no different than the .22 caliber semiautomatic hunting rifle our grandparents used. There is a difference and gun-rights advocates refuse to acknowledge that these guns are the choice of mass killers for a reason.
Senate Republicans need to start being honest with themselves about what is happening during these attacks and stop the slaughter.