Statement on Recent Mass Shootings
Dear reader,
We’ve decided to hold back on releasing the first episode of Evan Mawarire’s new podcast, Frontlines of Freedom. The story of how he and other political dissidents stand up against dictators to fight for democracy is inspirational, and Americans could use more hope for the fate of democracy. But this week isn’t the right time. In the wake of the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, America is in desperate need of introspection, not inspiration.
The mass murder of innocent children is a blight on America. Like the racist murder of ten Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York two weeks ago, the Uvalde shooting was perpetrated by a disturbed 18-year-old who was able to purchase an AR-15 all too easily.
We call on members of the Democratic and Republican parties to pass legislation restricting the ability of disturbed young men to quickly acquire weapons and turn them against innocent civilians. We welcome Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s openness to gun reform legislation, but we save any praise for when that legislation passes the Senate. We call on him and other Republicans to recognize that there is a wide gulf between overturning the Second Amendment and imposing modest restrictions on the accessibility of weapons in our communities. We call on Democrats to prioritize results, not political gamesmanship, in these conversations.
Our decades-long reluctance to respond to mass death with political action casts doubt on the efficacy of our democracy. Opinion polling consistently shows that a majority of Americans support stricter gun laws. If our government is incapable of doing something to protect elementary schoolers from dying in their classrooms, it has failed.