Last week, when nine people were killed in a senseless shooting at an Oregon community college, the national dialogue launched into what has become, as President Barack Obama stated, a “routine.”
Many on the left were quick to note that the shooting was far from an isolated incident. Many media websites, like Vox, were quick to point out that the school shooting had been one of many in recent years, despite the fact that not every shooting receives the same publicity. According to Everytown, a pro-gun regulation group, there have been 142 shootings in American schools alone since January 2013. The incidents have killed 73 and injured more than 100, the site states.
President Obama’s own remarks struck a tone of frustration, saying that the American public had “become numb to this.”
He continued, “And what’s become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun legislation. Right now, I can imagine the press releases being cranked out. ‘We need more guns,’ they’ll argue. ‘Fewer gun-safety laws.’”
He then asked: “Does anybody really believe that?”
Columnists and media pundits weighed in, too, though perhaps The Onion, in a satirical article it circulates after every shooting, made the point most succinctly with the headline, “No Way to Prevent This, Says Only Country Where this Regularly Happens.”
The attempts to capitalize on the Oregon shooting were seen by Republicans as an attempt to politicize the issue, however, resulting in critical comments from Republican Presidential candidates.
“Imagine a politician politicizing something,” Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and current GOP candidates said during an interview. “When do we get to the point where we have people who actually want to solve our problems rather than just politicize everything? I think that’s what the American people are so sick and tired of.”
Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and current GOP candidate, said, “There’s always a crisis and the impulse is always to do something, and it’s not necessarily the right thing to do.”
Donald Trump, the business mogul and GOP candidate, said that he supports the ownership of assault weapons and said that shootings are unpreventable. In an interview he said, “No matter what you do — guns, no guns, it doesn’t matter — you have people that are mentally ill, and they’re going to come through the cracks, and they’re going to do things that people will not even believe are possible.”
Call it a routine, call it a ritual, but the cycle will continue unless our politicians at the state and federal level enact tougher restrictions on guns.
Though bold, the plan proposed by Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Secretary of State and current Democratic presidential candidate, is a notable blueprint of further action. The plan, for instance, includes a mix of new legislation as well as executive action and would expand background checks and close several loopholes in federal policy. Other candidates on the left, like Bernie Sanders, may not support federal action on gun control, but advocate for action in state legislatures.
In the meantime, many GOP candidates will continue to oppose restrictions and even advocate for easier purchasing laws, like many politicians in Texas are doing.
The refrain from the right is that there is “No way to prevent this.” This could not be any further from the truth.