It took me until the most recent mass shooting (as of this writing) in Parkland, Florida to realize what I had been missing regarding the response to these gruesome, but increasingly commonplace, events. It required me to break out of my echo chamber of liberal voices which called for “gun control,” a phrase which conservatives seemingly interpret as former President Barack Obama coming door to door to confiscate their guns. I had to really listen to the responses from the right, from those who argue that now is not the time to discuss political solutions to these repeated tragedies, and from those who’d never venture to take away a gun from someone but wouldn’t bat an eye when snatching away healthcare from millions. And what I finally realized is that Republicans are simply at a place the rest of us haven’t reached yet.
Acceptance.
I had not accepted that gun violence is an unavoidable reality of America. See, I thought that the near-monthly mass murders in schools and theaters and churches were unacceptable and something that had to be stopped. I listened to and supported those who spent years wrestling with ideas and policies which could hope to address this epidemic. But the Republicans weren’t wrestling. They had long since tapped out.
Sure, we’re all getting to a point where we’re not shocked when we hear about another mass shooting. But I think it’s fair to say that most of us are still upset, frustrated, angry and willing to do damn near anything to prevent the next one. But I don’t see that bevy of emotions on the face of Republicans who respond to these crises. They remain on script, hail the second amendment, condemn the “politicization” of a decades-long national issue, and calmly express their thoughts and prayers.
Indeed, you have to be in a certain unique mental state to accept the repeated cold-blooded slaughter of Americans en masse. Only the most emotionally blunted sociopaths, like Donald Trump, or the most brainwashed Republican partisans, like Paul Ryan, can demonstrate that callous nonchalance in response to videos of children cowering in a classroom as the macabre soundtrack of rapid gunshots and chilling screams plays.
I imagine that’s where the thoughts and prayers come in. Many have mocked these responses as ineffective and meaningless, but that’s because we misidentify their purpose. Those who send their “thoughts and prayers” and observe ritualistic moments of silence do not do so for the victims or for their families. They do so for themselves. They spend those silent moments repeating “nothing we can do, nothing we can do, nothing we can do” in their heads until they’ve cemented it as fact. Their “thoughts” following shootings revolve around the sanctity of guns and not the sanctity of lives. They pray, in vain, that some ruthless divine force out there gives as little of a damn about dead children as they do.
The reasons that Republicans offer for the prevalence of gun violence betray their commitment to do absolutely nothing about this issue going forward. They emphasize the “evil” nature of the shooting and the shooter, knowing full well that we can’t legislate against evil. They claim that no sort of gun laws would prevent a criminal from procuring a gun. For a party purportedly dedicated to law and order, this argument that laws are ineffective because criminals will break them anyway is stunningly hypocritical.
Finally, they make vague, stigmatizing, and unproductive statements about the supposed role of mental illness in these incidents. And yet their approaches to health care and national spending would reduce the ability of the mentally ill to receive care. If Republicans really believe that mental illness is to blame for gun violence, then their policies can only be seen as support for continued gun violence.
The most absurd argument made by the Republican party is effectively an advertisement for the NRA. Republicans propose countering gun violence in schools by arming teachers. Are they blind to the fact that their solution to school massacres is a classroom shootout between a gunman with a plan and a teacher caught off guard? We live in a country where it is somehow accepted that professionally trained police officers lose their cool and fire upon citizens in inappropriate situations. We hear of trained soldiers who, in the heat of combat, fire upon their own comrades unintentionally. But a teacher is supposed to transition from balancing chemical equations to ballistic countermeasures in a room full of children? That’s the brilliant solution offered by the Republican party?
Much fuss has been made about the role of the NRA in buying politicians and forcing them to submit to their will. But I wouldn’t even give the Republicans the shred of humanity associated with selling out for money. It has become increasingly clear that Republicans literally do not care about most Americans. It’s why they give themselves tax cuts while cutting funding for Medicaid and Social Security. It’s why they don’t allow guns in the halls of Congress but argue that gun-free zones are the problem in school shootings. And it’s why they don’t show any sense of urgency or motivation to counteract the scourge that has, again and again and again and again, mowed down Americans no matter where they are.
The issue of gun violence has stopped representing a policy matter. This is a moral issue and the Republican party’s inaction is morally reprehensible. This is a party that would support banning an entire religion from the U.S. before considering bans on weapons of war. They are complicit. Their hands and NRA-signed checks are bloodstained. Their thoughts and prayers are bulls*** and their acceptance of gun violence is sadistic. They won’t take action.
But you can. Take every chance you can get to vote these uncaring and immoral excuses for humans out of office.
Shivam Dave is a Trinity senior. His column runs on alternate Tuesdays.
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