Gun truth, not untruth

The mass shootings that plague this nation are a uniquely American jumble of contradictions. Each new one horrifies, and yet fits into a depressingly familiar pattern.

The United States has averaged nearly two mass shootings a day this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks when four or more people are shot. To put that another way, it’s now unusual to have a day without a mass shooting. ‘‘We aren’t numb - we’re traumatised,’’ tweeted Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action.

Fourteen Americans mowed down this month at the University of Virginia, Club Q in Colorado Springs and a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia were doing normal activities of daily life.

Too often these tragedies are written off to individual cases of mental illness. That does not explain why the United States has had more than 600 mass shootings every year since 2020 and no other country has anything close to this level of gun violence. We must confront the truth about guns in America.President Biden is right to call for another nationwide assault weapons ban, which he helped enact for 10 years as a senator in 1994. Poll after poll shows wide support for stricter gun laws. The House passed the ban in July, but the Senate has yet to act.