Every time a mass shooting happens we are flooded with opinion pieces about violence, fear for our children, school safety, how to help our children process tragedy, and the requisite articles about U.S. gun control. Except, why is it that 23 years after Columbine, 10 years after Sandy Hook, and 3 weeks since Uvalde, gun regulation still seems so impossible?
“School shootings are scary,” school counselor and mom of three Diedre Anthony told Mom.com. “As a counselor I see mental health issues being ignored or not treated properly. I've seen many children over the years that I've feared could hurt others by their own admission.”
We need to consider how our societal attitudes toward mental health, race, gender, and masculinity contribute and influence people to commit such acts of atrocity. Out of these myriad of issues, gun control is merely one tool we have in order to prevent future mass shootings and gun violence.
A brief history of gun control laws
Why are gun laws so hard to push through
According to a 2021 Pew Research poll, 81% of Americans support background checks, 63% support a ban on assault-weapons, and 64% support a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. In addition, a majority disagree with the right to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
Except why, despite a preponderance of support for such measures, does nothing ever change?
The answer has surprisingly little to do with American opinions on guns and more to do with the Senate and the filibuster. If you don’t quite recall high school civics, the filibuster is a political procedure in which discussion about a proposed legislation is so prolonged that no decision can be made, effectively preventing a law from passing. To stop a filibuster requires a “cloture,” or 3/5ths of the Senate (60 out of 100 senators) to vote for an end.
You also have to consider the National Rifle Association (NRA) and their more than 100 years long campaign to shape gun policies in their image. The organization’s full court press to ignore and oppress popular American opinion includes using lawsuits, judicial activism, legislative campaigns, questioning the expertise of polls and epidemiologists, and of course, hefty donations to widely known Republicans.
This is how a small minority of conservative states have wielded an inordinate amount of power over the national agenda — in other words, a tyranny of the minority.
If you don’t particularly care for being held hostage by the NRA and their bought lawmakers, take a page from David Hogg, survivor of the Parkland, Florida school shooting in 2018, and co-founder of March For Our Lives. “If our government can't do anything to stop 19 kids from being killed and slaughtered in their own school… it's time to change who is in government,” Hogg said at a recent March For Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C.
