Time for sanity
The people who interrupted a speech by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine spoke for the nation.
“Do something!” the crowd chanted, drowning out Mr. DeWine’s remarks Sunday at a vigil following mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas.
The refrain bears repeating once more. It’s time for President Donald Trump, for Congress, for governors and for state legislatures to take real action to arrest the mass shootings that have afflicted nearly every corner of the country.
The attack on Pearl Harbor galvanized a nation to action. America is at another Pearl Harbor moment. Urgent action is required, and politicians who don’t work in a bipartisan manner to find solutions — and quickly — must be shown the door.
The latest tragedies are these: On Saturday. a gunman opened fire at an El Paso Walmart, killing at least 22 and wounding more than two dozen. Early Sunday, a man began shooting outside a Dayton bar, killing nine people, including his sister, and injuring more than 24. Those tragedies followed the July 28 shooting at the Gilroy ( Calif.) Garlic Festival that killed three and injured 13.
So far this year, there have been more than 250 mass shootings, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive — and all of these while Pittsburgh still grieves the 11 lives lost in October at Tree of Life in Squirrel Hill.
While the incidents differ in many details — some were motivated by racial and ethnic hatred, for example, while others weren’t — all have common denominators: Hate- filled or mentally ill people had access to guns they never should have had. There is no single solution to the mass shooting epidemic, so state and federal governments must batten down every hatch on the prevention and
enforcement fronts.
Congress immediately should go into special session on gun violence. Among other action, it should plug the gun show loophole, extend waiting periods for gun purchases, ban assault weapons, pass red- flag laws to temporarily take guns from unstable people and require mandatory training for new gun owners. It should hold hearings on how handgun buyback programs can be made to work.
Federal lawmakers should recognize the need for a holistic approach to gun violence and enact improvements to the nation’s outpatient and inpatient mental health treatment systems. They should explore ways to reduce hate speech on social media and other forums because it is in these dark corners of the cyber universe that many mass shooters seethe and plot. State legislatures should join in, passing initiatives to promote crowdsourcing of prospective mass killers.
The post- 9/ 11 adage — “If you see something, say something” — must have additional meaning from now on.
In televised remarks Monday, Mr. Trump endorsed some of these ideas, such as red- flag laws, but he did not express support for every one of them. He should. Moreover, he should sign off on as many of them as possible using all legal executive authority available to him.
Gun violence should be the leading issue of the 2020 presidential campaign, something that candidates mention at every debate and campaign event. The topic must remain at the forefront of the national consciousness and at the top of the national conversation.
Because even as America mourns the lives lost in El Paso and Dayton, someone somewhere is plotting the next attack. It could be in Pittsburgh. It could be in Toledo. It could be anywhere.