Three deadly mass shootings within the space of 10 days suggest America doesn’t just have a mass-shooting problem, but an epidemic driven by intolerance, racism, alienation -- and of course, by easy access to guns.
On May 14, 18-year-old Payton Gendron mowed down ten Black men and women at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. Gendron, who acquired his Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle legally at a New York gun store, had modified it to disable the lock on its magazine, The New Yorker magazine reported, so it could use higher-capacity ammo clips, then allegedly drove about 200 miles to commit his racist murders.
The next day, May 15, David Chou, a 68-year-old Chinese American, allegedly entered a Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods, California, during services for a Taiwanese congregation. He had with him two legally purchased 9-mm pistols and bags of ammo and incendiary devices, NPR reported. During a celebratory lunch for the pastor, he attacked. A 52-year-old doctor who tackled Chou was killed and five were injured before congregants were able to subdue Chou. Authorities allege Chou was motivated by hatred and opposition to Taiwanese independence.
Ten days after Buffalo, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, armed with two AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles and ammo he’d legally purchased days after his 18th birthday this month, shot his grandmother, took her truck and crashed it in a ditch near his old grade school, Robb Elementary, in Uvalde, Texas. Leaving one of the rifles in the truck, Ramos then headed for the school on foot -- and, in an unaccountable security lapse, was not confronted by local police, including during an hour he spent inside the school. By the time a tactical team of border agents killed Ramos, 19 children were dead, along with two teachers, and 17 were injured.
These terrible killings -- motivated by race, national enmity and just a sick desire to kill the defenseless -- have refired the conversation Ohioans had after the 2019 Dayton shootings that killed nine, when Daytonians yelled at Gov. Mike DeWine to “do something.” Yet even DeWine’s modest package of reforms failed to pass. What fellow Republicans who run the legislature delivered instead were gun-liberalization laws, including a law eliminating licensing and training requirements for concealed handgun-carry that DeWine signed into law and that is about to take effect.
So what must or can be done to address this epidemic of mass-casualty gun violence? Our Editorial Board Roundtable offers its perspectives.
Thomas Suddes, editorial writer:
One practical step Ohioans can take, as to their safety, and their children’s safety, is to elect a General Assembly that isn’t owned by the gun lobby.
Ted Diadiun, columnist:
I don’t know. But I do know what won’t stop the carnage: Simplistic demands for assault weapons bans and universal background checks. That wouldn’t have stopped the Uvalde shooting and, as a 2015 Washington Post fact-check showed, wouldn’t have stopped any of the 12 mass shootings between 2012 and 2015. Try again.
Eric Foster, columnist:
Buy yourself a gun. Then buy one for everyone that you care about. Buy gun holsters so that you all can carry your guns everywhere. If you have money left over, buy everyone some body armor. Make sure they wear that everywhere. If everyone does this, we’ll all be safe!
Lisa Garvin, editorial board member:
Most Americans know what must be done to stop mass killings: assault weapon bans; closing gun show loopholes, etc. But the grim reality is that change will not come unless we break the gun lobby’s stranglehold on the Republican Party. Until then, these tragedies will continue, along with our collective grief and helpless outrage. Vote Blue.
Victor Ruiz, editorial board member:
This country is moving in two directions: life for the unborn and death for the living. To be pro-life must mean valuing and saving the lives of all! To demand that a life be born and then create an environment where they die cruel deaths is just plain evil.
Mary Day Doherty, editorial board member:
Focusing on gun control obscures the bigger question: What makes people murderous? Often, troubled kids become troubled adults, with dire consequences. For the socioeconomic well-being of all children, our culture should trumpet the benefits of stable two-parent homes, religious values, and fathers who financially support and positively influence their children.
Elizabeth Sullivan, opinion director:
Making it harder, through an assault weapons ban, to obtain mass-casualty firearms and high-capacity ammo clips should be job No. 1 for all 100 U.S. senators -- and all who vote for them and can influence them.
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