When Will We Come to Our Senses and Enact Real Gun Control?

Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, tried desperately on Saturday to focus on “mental health” issues instead of such matters as easy access to assault rifles as he spoke following the slaughter at a Walmart in his home state that left at least 20 people dead.

Police identified the gunman at Walmart as 21-year-old Patrick Crucius, but have said nothing about his mental health. Police and the FBI are investigating a hate-fueled anti-immigrant “manifesto” that may be linked to Crucius.

 Abbott boasted at his Saturday press conference that the state Legislature passed “bill after bill after bill” to protect students from school shootings after eight teenagers and two teachers were fatally shot last year at Santa Fe High School in Texas. One of the bills Abbott signed into law involved arming more teachers. None of the bills involved increased gun control.

In a second mass shooting hours later, at least nine people were murdered and more than two dozen were wounded after someone opened fire outside a bar in downtown Dayton, Ohio.  The shooter, later identified as 24-year-old Connor Betts was shot and killed by responding officers "in less than a minute" after opening fire.

Mayor Nan Whaley said Betts wore armor and was carrying a .223-caliber "long gun" and additional high-capacity magazines.  Betts' sister Megan and her boyfriend was later found dead near the scene of the shooting, and are believed to have been killed prior to the shooting spree.  Connor Betts had triggered a lockdown in his high school eight years ago when he posted a "hit list" on the wall of the bathroom at his high school.

Studies indicate that the rate at which public mass shootings occur has tripled since 2011.  Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred roughly once every 200 days.  However, between 2011 and 2014, that rate has accelerated greatly with at least one mass shooting occurring every 64 days in the United States. According to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive, there were 250 mass shootings between January 1 and August 3, 2019—the 215th day of the year. 

The GOP's tired old “good guy with a gun” slogan is an invitation to admit defeat. It’s a policy that says the best we can hope for is to react after someone opens fire. That preventing gun deaths is impossible, and the absolute best we can hope for, if everyone, everywhere, every time, is carrying a weapon … is to limit the number of dead.  But never prevent.  Because every bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.  Until he shoots someone.