America’s Elected Officials Don’t Have an Answer For Gun Violence

How can you describe the new, but familiar horror at Uvalde in Texas? How can you catalog the violence in another community? How to index the names of the dead—19 school kids and two teachers, as of this writing—and of yet another mass killer, Salvador Ramos? What do you think about the renewed calls for elected officials to do something? Anything, to mitigate this uniquely American crisis—and the political wall attempted reforms could once again hit after this latest massacre fades from the headlines?

There’s the nightmare of it all, the outrage. But there’s also the anguish: If the slaughter of 20 children in Newtown wasn’t enough ten years ago, if Las Vegas and Parkland and countless others weren’t enough, then what hope is there for change now, after Uvalde?

Our leaders don’t seem to know; they, too, seemed to have more questions than answers.

“Why do we keep letting this happen?” a rattled President Joe BidenQuestioned at an address during Tuesday’s Robb Elementary School shooting. “Where in God’s name is our backbone?”

“What are we doing?” Democratic Senator Chris MurphyIn an emotional speech on Tuesday, Uvalde, whose state was devastated by the Sandy Hook shooting of 2012, asked for help. “Why are we here, if not to try to make sure that fewer schools and fewer communities go through what Sandy Hook has gone through, what Uvalde is going through?”

Yes, indeed. AreAre elected leaders in office now? Is it to offer up “prayers” for round after round of victims, as Republicans—from state leaders like Texas Governor Greg AbbottTo federal leaders like the Texas Senator Ted Cruz—have done? Or is it to benefit their constituents? If it’s the latter, taking some kind of action to combat gun violence would seem to qualify as part of their job description, in a country that has already suffered more than 200 mass shootingsThis year alone. Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego’s frustration was evident Tuesday night.

Even though it may seem naive to point out the failure of action, it speaks to America’s broken political system. It is unable to even pretend to have solutions to the problems plaguing the nation, due to the bad faith of Republicans and the self-interest of some Democrats. “You would think there would be enough common sense” to pass gun reforms without eliminating the filibuster, Joe ManchinTuesday, Manchin told reporters that he supported gun control legislation and reiterated his commitment to keeping the procedure that makes such laws impossible within the evenly divided Senate. “The filibuster,” Manchin added, “is the only thing that prevents us from total insanity.”

“When are we going to do something?” demanded Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr,As he called upon Senators to act.