By Brigitte L. Nacos
Gun violence in the United States is as American as apple pie. The same is true for mass shootings in schools and other public places. As the growing number of mass shootings in elementary and secondary schools attests to, young children and teenagers are increasingly victims of this sort of violence. According to the Gun Violence Archive, so far this year 59 children (up to 11-years old) and 344 teenagers (12- to 17-years old) were killed in such incidents this year; the number of injured was 130 for children and 827 for teenagers. The latest mass shooting in an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, was merely another of the frequent mass shootings across the country.
In the Nashville case, the shooter was a 28-year-old woman armed with an AR-15-style rifle, an AR-style pistol and another handgun. The military style assault weapons could have killed far more children and adults in record time, if law enforcement officers had not responded as quickly as they did.
The fact that anyone in this country can acquire weapons designed for soldiers fighting in wars is scandalous and only possible in the United States. Leaving all other gun-control issues aside, those politicians in Congress and in Republican-controlled state governments who refuse to outlaw military style assault weapons are in my book accomplices in all incidents in which Americans are killed by assault weapons in the hands of perpetrators.
Even when the victims are their neighbors, these Second Amendment fanatics in the political class will not vote for life-saving measures that a strong majority of the American public approves.
Last year, after the mass shootings in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee) noted,
To be clear: using this horror to infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens—before we even know what might have prevented this tragedy—and accusing anyone who disagrees of being complicit in this abhorrent crime is not a solution that will make us safer.
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R. Tennessee) said at the same time,
Schools should have secured, limited entry points, and increased funding for school resource officers. School officials with prior military or law enforcement experience should be allowed to carry firearms. Finally, mental health must be taken seriously.
Well, the Nashville perpetrator shot the glass out of doors and climbed easily through a seemingly secure entrance.
Senator Blackburn reacted with a tweet: “Chuck & I are heartbroken to hear about the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville…” Her colleague Senator Hagerty wrote, “Devastated and heartbroken about the tragic news at Covenant School
Always the same, unhelpful phrases.
Congressman Andy Ogles (R-Tennessee), who represents the district that includes Nashville and the Covenant School, posted last year a Christmas card on Facebook depicting his family posing with guns. That’s how deeply ingrained the gun culture is in the United States of America and why it still seems impossible to defeat it.
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