Gun Violence Is A Political Problem
Until the political incentives around gun policy change -- and Republicans pay a political price for their pro-gun zealotry -- the carnage from gun violence will continue.
I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality of American politics. If you were sent this email or are a free subscriber and would like to subscribe, you can sign up here.
So my birthday was last Tuesday, and I’m still accepting presents! Click the button below to get 20 percent off one year of Truth and Consequences!
Another Day In America … Just Like The Day Before
Stop me if you’ve heard this before.
A heavily armed woman entered a Christian school in Nashville on Monday morning and fatally shot three children and three staff members before she was shot and killed by the police, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said.
The spokesman, Don Aaron, said that investigators were working to identify the woman who had opened fire at the Covenant School, which serves about 200 students from preschool through 6th grade, according to its website. The 28-year-old woman was armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun, the police said, and it was not immediately clear if she had any connection to the school.
None of this is surprising anymore. There are mass shootings every day in America. Yesterday, six people were wounded in Minneapolis, all teenagers. Saturday, 11 people were shot and one killed in Macomb, Illinois. Last Tuesday, five people, including three children, were killed in South Carolina. Of course, beyond those lost forever, there are friends, family members, and co-workers permanently traumatized by these tragedies. Then, of course, there are the rest of America’s children. Imagine, as a parent, what you would say to your son or daughter if they were a classmate of one of three children killed today in Nashville. How does a nine-year-old integrate and understand such madness?
That this latest tragedy happened in Tennessee is ironic. Earlier this month, Republican legislators passed a law outlawing drag performances in public and “bans them from occurring within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks, or places of worship.” According to the bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Chris Todd, the legislation is “a common-sense, child safety bill” that will “protect children.”
Hmm.
As an FYI, gun violence is the leading cause of death for American children (In no other industrialized nation does it even rank in the top five). And in case you thought Tennessee was bucking the national trend on gun violence … think again.
Tennessee fares far worse than many other states, ranking 11th in overall gun violence. Between 2011-2020, gun deaths skyrocketed 48% in Tennessee, homicides increased 103% and suicides increased 20%.
Tennessee now averages 1,273 gun deaths and 2,220 gun injuries annually, which is the leading cause of death among children and teenagers.
Outside of the horrific emotional toll, gun violence costs Tennesseans $9 billion dollars a year.
So surely, Rep. Todd, who cares so much about protecting children, would be on the frontlines of pushing for “common sense” gun control legislation that would keep children safe from gun violence. Think again.
In fact, Todd is one of the co-sponsors of legislation allowing 18 and 19-year-olds to carry guns without a permit in Tennessee. Back in February, Todd berated members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security for suggesting in testimony before a House subcommittee that such a bill would endanger public safety and put law enforcement officers in danger.
One can argue that it’s cognitive dissonance to push for banning drag shows to protect children while also making it easier for teenagers to own and carry guns … but of course, it’s just Republican politics.
If you think that Todd is the sole problem in Tennessee, consider this lovely Christmas card from Rep. Andy Ogles, who represents the district where today’s mass shooting occurred.
I’m neither a celebrator of Christmas nor a gun owner, so I struggle to understand how people do stuff like this. It’s almost as if they love guns more than children.
While it’s easy to blame politicians for this continuing carnage, voters must also shoulder responsibility. State Rep. Todd won 71 percent of the vote in the 2022 election. Rep. Andy Ogles won 55.8 percent. In Texas, after the Uvalde school shooting, pro-gun control advocates mobilized to defeat the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, because of his steadfast opposition to gun control legislation. After all, huge majorities of Texas voters support background checks, red flag laws, and raising the age for purchasing an assault rifle. Abbott won by almost 11 points.
I know it’s difficult to be a single-issue voter in this country, but until Republicans experience firsthand the wrath of angry voters over their support for unpopular gun policies … they will continue to support them. The positions for which Abbott, Todd, et al. advocate are well outside the political mainstream. A minority of gun rights zealots backs them, but until there is a direct political consequence, those Republicans — and countless others — will continue to listen to the loudest voices and ignore the rest of us. If there’s no political downside to gun zealotry, why change (aside from saving lives, but as previously noted, Republican politicians clearly don’t care)?
I hate to be such a Debbie Downer on this because, over the past few years, gun control activists have seen notable legislative success — both on the state and federal levels. But ultimately, gun violence, like every other issue in America, is deeply politicized. Until the political incentives change, the carnage from gun violence will continue — and only voters can make that happen.
What’s Going On
Donald Trump thinks America is a shithole country.
On a related note, the photo below is completely awful. As a reminder, Waco became a rallying point for right-wing anger toward the federal government after the 1993 raid that killed David Koresh and dozens of his supporters. Timothy McVeigh cited it as an inspiration for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Trump’s rally took place on the 30th anniversary of the raid.
A movie about Ruby Bridges, who, at the age of 6, integrated New Orleans public schools in the 1960s, was removed from the curriculum because a parent complained that it “might result in [students] learning that white people hate Black people.” This is one of the weirdly awful things about Florida’s new educational laws. If a single parent complains about inappropriate content in a book or film, it can be removed pending review. Never before has a piece of legislation empowered so many Karens.
In Israel, Bibi backed down … for now.
If anyone ever asks me why I don’t believe in god, I’ll show them this clip.
This is a fundraising pitch I received from the Trump campaign. This isn’t dog whistle anti-Semitism; it’s train whistle anti-Semitism.
In what is almost certainly a coincidence, anti-Semitic incidents in Texas increased dramatically in 2022.
John Ganz has some thoughts on the Jock/Creep Theory of Fascism … and it’s not bad.
Musical Interlude