‘What the hell is wrong with us’ on gun control?

Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke for California and the nation when he said, “What the hell is wrong with us?”

Newsom, of course, was in San Jose last Wednesday when he asked this basic question. The governor was speaking about the unspeakable, again. He was standing with another group of devastated people after a mass shooting, again.

“What the hell is going on in the United States of America?” Newsom asked. “When are we going to come to grips with this? When are we going to put down our arms — literally and figuratively — our politics, stale rhetoric, finger-pointing, all the hand-wringing, consternation that produces nothing except more fury and frustration … over and over and over again.”

These are urgent questions about the soul of our nation, and the feeble answers we barely muster each time are almost as tragic as the unrelenting spree of mass shootings in our communities. These should be once-in-century massacres but they have become routine, expected, and quickly surpassed by other, lesser, stories until the next massacre.

Is it true that all we can do is shrug? Is it true that all we can do is type “thoughts and prayers” into our Twitter feeds?

What the hell is wrong with Americans?

Nine people were murdered in their workplace last Wednesday morning by a co-worker with a violent past, at the Valley Transportation Authority in the heart of Silicon Valley, in one of the wealthiest counties in California. This abomination happened in a reliably blue city in a state boasting some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation.

National Public Radio reported on May 10 that there had already been 194 mass shootings in the first 18 weeks of 2021, about 10 a week.

The Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as gun violence where at least four people are killed or wounded at one time, tabulated 610 mass shootings in 2020.

It’s noteworthy that while Newsom identified the right questions we should be asking ourselves as Americans awash in the blood of our neighbors, friends, family and co-workers, he didn’t promote any particular gun control policy.

In truth, this American proclivity for gun violence is bigger than any gun control measure, though more are surely needed.

The San Jose gunman, Samuel Cassidy, allegedly had a history of domestic violence. According to the Giffords Law Center, domestic violence and gun violence are tragically intertwined.

California is one of 17 states that prohibits domestic violence misdemeanants from possessing guns. California also is one of 17 states that authorizes or requires the surrender of guns or ammunition after conviction of a domestic violence misdemeanor. But, according to the Giffords Law Center, California is not among the four states that go a step further: enacting laws “designed to ensure records regarding domestic violence crimes that fall within the federal definition of a ‘misdemeanor crime of domestic violence’ are submitted to the federal and/or state databases used for firearm purchaser background checks.”

But here is the rub: It’s unclear if Cassidy was ever convicted of domestic violence, despite the harrowing record of domestic violence claims in his past cited by Bay Area news outlets.

Does this reflect how hard it is to protect people from gun violence? Yes. What’s the answer? To make it harder for people with violent pasts to obtain guns, whether they have a conviction of a violent crime or not. To attach firearms prohibitions to people with histories of violence and substance abuse. To lengthen waiting periods for gun sales. To make it very hard to buy a gun.

Anything less means there is no good answer to Newsom’s question about us as Americans.

It means we don’t have the courage to protect citizens. Is that really us?