San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Status quo on gun violence is unacceptable
The horrific mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, have spawned thousands of headlines this month and refocused the nation’s attention on gun violence.
The heartbreaking death toll in each of these incidents was shocking. And the El Paso shooting had an added layer of horror — domestic terrorism with ethnically motivated hatred as the motive.
And we’ll never forget the 2017 tragedy at Sutherland Springs — just 30 miles from San Antonio — where 26 people were killed at the First Baptist Church.
No one should live in fear of being gunned down for any reason, let alone because of their race or ethnicity, their religious beliefs, because they are trapped in an abusive relationship or because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet this is the America we live in today.
We don’t have to accept it this way. We can change. And we must. This is an issue that must rise above politics.
Mass shootings continue to shock us, as they should. But the fact is, today in America, mass shootings are almost a daily occurrence. Through the first week of August, 255 mass shootings were reported across the nation in 2019.
Mass shootings command more attention, but they are only a small part of the tragic toll taken by gun violence in the United States. Gun violence permeates daily life in our nation. In addition to mass shootings, guns play a major role in suicides, domestic violence and individual homicides.
The numbers are staggering. Here are some statistics compiled on the Giffords Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence website:
The annual death toll from gun violence tops 36,000.
Domestic violence victims are five times more likely to be killed if their abuser has a gun.
Each year, 1,500 children die from shootings, and 22 children are shot daily. Three million children are exposed to gun violence annually, often suffering severe trauma as a result.
Guns are used in five percent of suicide attempts, but 50 percent of suicide deaths result from guns. And 90 percent of Americans who attempt suicide and survive do not try again.
As the father of a young son and the mayor of a Hispanic majority city, the looming threat of gun violence in all of its forms disturbs me deeply. Our nation faces a public safety crisis that can be mitigated with commonsense bipartisan gun laws that do not encroach on Constitutional rights.
My city council colleagues and I agree that the status quo is unacceptable. On Thursday, we passed a resolution calling on the federal and state governments to pass commonsense gun laws. We urged the United States Senate to consider bipartisan gun safety legislation that already has passed the House. And we asked Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special legislative session to pursue proposals such as the governor’s School and Firearm Safety Action Plan (Editor’s note: On Thursday, Abbott said there will be no special session).
That plan was released in 2018 after a mass shooting claimed 10 lives at Santa Fe High School. Abbott’s plan included proposals such as a red flag law that would prevent possession of firearms by potentially dangerous people, such as known domestic abusers.
The legislature failed to act on the governor’s proposals this year. It would be reckless to wait until 2021 to address this crisis.
Council also directed City Manager Erik Walsh to send our resolution to the Texas Municipal League and all Texas cities with at least 500,000 residents — encouraging them to consider passing similar resolutions. And we committed to reviewing possible actions available at the local level to protect the safety of San Antonio residents.
Now is the time to act. Waiting is unacceptable.
The proposals we asked lawmakers to consider are not a magic solution that will end gun violence, but they will reduce the carnage and increase public safety. There is no sense waiting for the perfect solution. It does not exist. But doing nothing is the worst option of all.
Together, we can make a difference. We can ensure that parents are no longer forced to worry about their children’s safety when they drop them off at school.
The fear of rampant gun violence must not remain a fact of life in our schools, our malls, our streets or our homes. Our city, our state and our nation deserve better.