The solutions for combating gun violence

“It’s like Groundhog’s Day. We’ve seen this over and over again,” Mark Talley, the son of one of the [Buffalo shooting] victims, Geraldine Talley, said at a news conference on Thursday…

It is entirely reasonable to ask how much more of this a nation can be expected to bear. The answer is infuriating: There have been 213 mass shootings in the United States in the first 21 weeks of 2022. An average of 321 Americans are shot every single day. And every day, there are roughly more than 50,000 gun sales recorded. Properly maintained, those guns will fire like new for decades.

There was some hope after the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, which left 20 children and six teachers dead, that America had finally reached the limit of tragedy it could withstand and that, perhaps, the gun lobby had reached the high-water mark of its power.

A decade later, neither of those holds true. On Friday, the former president Donald Trump, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina all spoke at the annual convention of the National Rifle Association in Houston, a few hours’ drive from Uvalde. There is no better manifestation of the gun lobby’s total capture of so much of the G.O.P…

We have seen bipartisan efforts on gun safety measures come and go without results. Still, in the face of Republican intransigence, Democrats — Mr. Biden, in particular — should do whatever they can.”

“The same solutions that would help reduce mass shootings would also reduce the daily toll of other forms of gun violence across the country.

Here are things that could make a difference.

First, the media should look for ways to expand the national conversation about gun violence. A map showing the number of mass shootings in the US is shocking. And yet a map illustrating the number of shootings and deaths in 2022 so far would be even more shocking…

Second, every social movement proclaiming that it stands against violence needs to come together in solidarity with those who are drowning in a daily tidal wave of gun violence…

Third, we need to shift the culture of violence in urban America — and in the United States, broadly. For some, violence has become a kind of social currency. People beat up others, just to put videos of it online. All influencers of the culture need to take a big step back from celebrating and promoting violence. We are at a real crisis point.

And lastly, we need focused political and legislative action.

We should accelerate programs that focus on those at the center of gun violence — namely Black and brown people living in poverty… We also must recognize that background checks matter. Congress must close the loopholes that allow unlicensed gun sales without background checks. We must raise the age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21. People should be required to undergo training and get a permit to own a handgun legally…

There is no reason for this debate to pit gun owners against those who don't own guns. This is a life-or-death emergency that divides responsible gun owners and responsive lawmakers from people who just don't seem to give a damn.”